THE    SPANIARDS 


THEIR    COUNTRY 


BY    RICHARD    FORD, 

AUTHOR    OF     THE     HANDBOOK     OF     SPAIN. 


NEW    EDIVION,    COMIL^IE    IU    ONE    \O.VJME. 


NEW  YORK: 
GEORGE   P.   PUTNAM,    155    BROADWAY. 

1852. 


HONOURABLE  MRS.  FORD, 

THESE  pages,  which  she  has  been  so  good  as  to  peruse  and  approye  of, 
are  dedicated,  in  the  hopes  that  other  fair  readers  may  follow  her 
example, 

By  her  very  affectionate 

Husband  and  Servant, 

RICHARD  FORD. 


229457 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

fcMB 

A  General  View  of  Spain— Isolation— King  of  the  Spains— Castilian 
Precedence-— Localism — Want  of  Union — Admiration  of  Spain — M. 
Thiers  in  Spain  .  .  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Geography  of  Spain — Zones — Mountains — The  Pyrenees — The 
Gabacho,  and  French  Politics  .  ...  7 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Rivers  of  Spain — Bridges— Navigation — The  Ebro  and  Tagua   .      23 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Divisions  into  Provinces — Ancient  Demarcations — Modern  Depart- 
ments— Population — Revenue — Spanish  Stocks  ...  30 

CHAPTER  V. 

Travelling  in  Spain — Steamers — Roads,  Roman,  Monastic,  and  Royal 
— Modern  Railway — English  Speculations 40 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Post  Office  in  Spain— Travelling  with  Post  Horses— Riding  post — Mails 
and  Diligences,  Galeras,  Coches  de  Dolleras,  Drivers  and  Manner 
of  Driving,  and  Oaths 63 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Spanish  Horses — Mules — Asses — Muleteers — Maragatos  ...      69 


vi  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGE. 

Riding  Tour  in  Spain — Pleasures  of  it — Pedestrian  Tour — Choice  of 
Companions — Rules  for  a  Riding  Tour — Season  of  year — Day's 
journey — Management  of  Horse ;  his  Feet ;  Shoes  •  General  Hints  80 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Rider's  costume — Alforjas :  their  contents — The  Bota5  and  How 
to  use  it — Pig  Skins  and  Borracha — Spanish  Money — Onzas  and 
smaller  coins 94 


CHAPTER  X. 

Spanish  Servants:  their  Character — Travelling  Groom,  Cook,  and 
Valet  .    105 


CHAPTER  XI. 

A  Spanish  Cook — Philosophy  of  Spanish  Cuisine — Sauce — Difficulty 
of  Commissariat — The  Provend — Spanish  Hares  and  Rabbits — The 
Olla — Garbanzos — Spanish  Pigs — Bacon  and  Hams — Omelette — 
Salad  and  Gazpacho .  119 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Drinks  of  Spain— Water— Irrigation — Fountains — Spanish  Thirsti- 
ness — The  Alcarraza — Water  Carriers — Ablutions — Spanish  Choc-" 
olate — Agraz — Beer  Lemonade  ....  .  136 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

,/  „• 

Spanish  Wines — Spanish  Indifference — Wine-making — Vins  du  Pays 
—Local  Wines— Benicarl6— Valdepenas  .  146 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Sherry  Wines— The  Sherry  District— Origin  of  the  Name— Varieties 
of  Soil— Of  Grapes— Pajarete— Rojas  Clemente— Cultivation  of 
Vines — Best  Vineyards — The  Vintage — Amontillado — The  Capataz 
— The  Bodega — Sherry  Wine— Arrope  and  Madre  Vino — A  lecture 
on  Sherry  in  the  Cellar— at  the  Table— Price  of  Fine  Sherry— Fal- 
sification of  Sherry— Manzanilla— The  Alpistera  ....  151 


CONTENTS.  •  vii 


CHAPTER  XV. 

S                                                           ^ 
Spanish  Inns:  Why  so  Indifferent — The  Fonda — Modern  Improve- 
ments— The  Posada'— Spanish  Innkeepers— The  Venta :  Arrival  in 
it — Arrangement-— Garlic— Dinners-Evening— Nigh! — Bill — Iden- 
tity with  the  Inns  of  the  Ancients 167 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Spanish  Robbers — A  Robber  Adventure — Guardias  Civiles — Exag- 
geratedAccounts — Cross  of  the  Murdered— Idle  Robber  Tales — 
French  Bandittiphobia — Robber  History — Guerrilleros — Smugglers 
— Jose  Maria — Robbers  of  the  First  Class — TheRatero — Miguelites 
— Escorts  and  Escopeteros — Passes,  Protections,  and  Talismans — 
Execution  of  a  Robber  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  '  .  188 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Spanish  Doctor  :  his  Social  Position — Medical  Abuses — Hospitals 
— Medical  Education — Lunatic  Asylums — Foundling  Hospital  of 
Seville — Medical  Pretensions — Dissection — Family  Physician — 
Consultations — Medical  Costume— Prescriptions — Druggists— Snake 
Broth— Salve  for  Knife-cuts 215 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Spanish  Spiritual  Remedies  for  the  Body — Miraculous  Relics — Sanative 
Oils — Philosophy  of  Relic  Remedies — Midwifery  and  the  Cinta  of 
Tortosa— Bull  of  Crusade 239 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Spanish  Figaro — Mustachios— Whiskers — Beards — Bleeding — 
Heraldic  Blood— Blue,  Red,  and  Black  Blood— Figaro's  Shop— The 
Baratero — Shaving  and  Toothdrawing  .  ....  259 

CHAPTER  XX. 

What  to  observe  in  Spain — How  to  observe — Spanish  Incuriousness  and 
Suspicions- — French  Spies  and  Plunderers — Sketching  in  Spain — 
Difficulties ;  How  surmounted — Efficacy  of  Passports  and  Bribes — 
Uncertainty  and  Want  of  Information  in  the  Natives  .  .  .  269 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Origin  of  Bull-fight  or  Festival,  and  its  Religious  Character — 
Fiestas  Reales — Royal  Feasts — Charles  I.  at  one — Discontinuance  of 
the  Old  System — Sham  Bull-fights— Plaza  de  Toros — Slang  Lan- 
guage— Spanish  Bulls — Breeds — The  Going  to  a  Bull-fight  .  .  290 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PAG*. 

The  Bull-fight — Opening  of  Spectacle — First  Act,  and  Appearance  of 
the  Bull— The  Picador— Bull  Bastinado— The  Horses7  and  their 
Cruel  Treatment — Fire  and  Dogs — The  Second  Act — The  Chulos 
and  their  Darts— The  Third  Act— The  Matador— Death  of  the  Bull 
— The  Conclusion,  and  Philosophy  of  the  Amusement — Its  Effect  on 
Ladies 305 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

<S'  \/ 

Spanish  Theatre ;  Old  and  Modern  Drama ;  Arrangement  of  Play- 
houses— The  Henroost — The  Fandango ;  National  Dances — A  Gipsy 
Ball — Italian  Opera — National  Songs  and  Guitars  ....  324 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Manufacture  of  Cigars — Tobacco — Smuggling  via  Gibraltar — Cigars 
of  Ferdinand  VII. — Making  a  Cigarrito — Zumalacarreguy  and  the 
Schoolmaster — Time  and  money  wasted  in  smoking — Postscript  on 
Spanish  Stock .341 


THE 


SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY, 


CHAPTER    I. 

A  general  view  of  Spain — Isolation — King  of  the  Spains — Castilian  pro. 
cedence — Localism — Want  of  Union — Admiration  of  Spain — M.  Thiers 
in  Spain. 

THE  kingdom  of  Spain,  which  looks  so  compact  on  the  map.  is 
composed  of  many  distinct  provinces,  each  of  which  in  earlier 
times  formed  a  separate  and  independent  kingdom ;  and  although 
all  are  now  united  under  one  crown  by  marriage,  inheritance, 
cdhquest,  and  other  circumstances,  the  original  distinctions,  geo- 
graphical as  well  as  social,  remain  almost  unaltered.  The  lan- 
guage, costume,  habits,  and  local  character  of  the  natives,  vary 
no  less  than  the  climate  and  productions  of  the  soil.  The  chains 
of  mountains  which  intersect  the  whole  peninsula,  and  the  deep 
rivers  which  separate  portions  of  it,  have,  for  many  years, 
operated  as  so  many  walls  and  moats,  by  cutting  off  intercommu- 
nication, and  by  fostering  that  tendency  to  isolation  which  must 
exist  in  all  hilly  countries,  where  good  roads  and  bridges  do  not 
abound.  As  similar  circumstances  led  the  people  of  ancient 
Greece  to  split  into  small  principalities,  tribes  and  clans,  so  in 
Spain,  man,  following  the  example  of  the  nature  by  which  he  is 
surrounded,  has  little  in  common  with  the  inhabitant  of  the  ad- 
joining district ;  and  these  differences  are  increased  and  perpetu- 
ated by  the  ancient  jealousies  and  inveterate  dislikes,  which  petty 
and  contiguous  states  keep  up  with  such  tenacious  memory.  The 
general  comprehensive  term  "  Spain,"  which  is  convenient  for 
geographers  and  politicians,  is  calculated  to  mislead  the  traveller, 

PART  i.  2 


THE  SPANIARDS  AND -THEIR  COUNTRY. 


for  it  would  be  far  from  easy  to  predicate  any  single  thing  oi" 
Spain  or  Spaniards  which  will  be  equally  applicable  to  all  its 
heterogeneous  component  parts.  The  north-western  provinces 
are  more  rainy  than  Devonshire,  while  the  centre  plains  are 
more  calcined  than  those  of  the  Deserts  of  Arabia,  and  the 
littoral  south  or  eastern  coasts  altogether  Algerian.  The  rude 
agricultural  Gallician,  the  industrious  manufacturing  artisan  of 
Barcelona,  the  gay  and  voluptuous  Andalucian,  the  sly  vindictive 
Valencian,  are  as  essentially  different  from  each  other  as  so  many 
distinct  characters  at  the  same  masquerade.  It  will  therefore 
be  more  convenient  to  the  traveller  to  take  each  province  by 
itself  and  treat  it  in  detail,  keeping  on  the  look-out  for  those 
peculiarities,*  those  social  and  natural  characteristics  or  idiosyn- 
cracies  which  particularly  belong  to  each  division,  and  distinguish 
it  from  its  neighbors.  The  Spaniards  who  have  written  on 
their  own  geography  and  statistics,  arid  who  ought  to  be  sup- 
posed to  understand  their  own  country  and  institutions  the  best, 
have  found  it  advisable  to  adopt  this  arrangement  from  feeling  the 
utter  impossibility  of  treating  Spain  (where  union  is  not  unity)  as 
a  whole.  There  is  no  king  of  Spain  ;  among  the  infinity  of  king- 
doms, the  list  of  which  swells  out  the  royal  style,  that  of  "  Spain'"' 
is  not  found  ;  he  is  king  of  the  Spains,  Rex  Hispaniarum,  Hey 
de  las  EspanaSj  not  "  Hey  de  Epana"  Philip  II.,  called  by  his 
countrymen  el  prudenie,  the  prudent,  wishing  to  fuse  down  his 
heterogeneous  subjects,  was  desirous  after  his  conquest  of  Por- 
tugal, which  consolidated  his  dominion,  to  call  himself  King  of 
Spain,  which  he  then  really  was ;  but  this  alteration  of  title  was 
beyond  the  power  of  even  his  despotism  ;  such  was  the  opposition 
of  the  kingdoms  of  Arragon  and  Navarre,  which  never  gave  up 
the  hopes  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  Castile,  and  recovering  their 
former  independence,  while  the  empire  provinces  of  New  and 
Old  Castile  refused  in  anywise  to  compromise  their  claims  of 
pre-eminence.  They  from  early  times,  as  now,  took  the  lead  in 
national  nomenclatures ;  hence  "  Castellano"  Castilian,  is  syno- 
nymous with  Spaniard,  and  particularly  with  the  proud  genuine 
older-stock.  "  Castellano  a  las  derechas,  means  a  Spaniard  to 
the  backbone  ;  "  Hablar  Castellano"  to  speak  Castilian,  is  the 
correct  expression  for  speaking  the  Spanish  language.  Spain 


LOCALISM   OF   SPANIARDS. 


again  was  long  without  the  advantage  of  a  fixed  metropolis,  like 
Rome,  Paris,  or  London,  which  have  been  capitals  from  their 
foundation,  and  recognized  and  submitted  to  as  such  ;  here,  the 
cities  of  Leon,  Burgos,  Toledo,  Seville,  Valladolid,  and  others, 
have  each  in  their  turns  been  the  capitals  of  the  kingdom.  This 
constant  change  and  short-lived  pre-eminence  has  weakened  any 
prescriptive  superiority  of  one  city  over  another,  and  has  been  a 
cause  of  national  weakness  by  raising  up  rivalries  and  disputes 
about  precedence,  which  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  sources  of 
dissension  among  a  punctilious  people.  In  fact  the  king  was  the 
state,  and  wherever  he  fixed  his  head-quarters  was  the  court, 
La  Corte,  a  word  still  synonymous  with  Madrid,  which  now 
claims  to  be  the  only  residence  of  the  Sovereign — the  residenz, 
as  Germans  would  say  ;  otherwise,  when  compared  with  the 
cities  above  mentioned,  it  is  a  modern  place  ;  from  not  having  a 
bishop  or  cathedral,  of  which  latter  some  older  cities  possess  two, 
it  has  not  even  the  rank  of  a  ciudad,  or  city,  but  is  merely  de- 
nominated villa,  or  town.  In  moments  of  national. danger  it  ex- 
ercises little  influence  over  the  Peninsula  :  at  the  same  time, 
from  being  the  seat  of  the  court  and  government,  and  therefore 
the  centre  of  patronage  and  fashion,  it  attracts  from  all  parts 
those  who  wish  to  make  their  fortune  ;  yet  the  capital  has  a  hold 
on  the  ambition  rather  than  on  the  affections  of  the  nation  at  large. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  different  provinces,  think,  indeed,  that 
Madrid  is  the  greatest  and  richest  court  in  the  world,  but  their 
hearts  are  in  their  native  localities.  "  Mi  paisano,"  my  fellow, 
countryman,  or  rather  my  fellow-countyman,  fellow-parishioner, 
does  not  mean  Spaniard,  but  Andalucian,  Catalonian,  as  the  case 
may  be.  When  a  Spaniard  is  asked,  Where  do  you  come  from  ? 
the  reply  is,  "  Soy  liijo  de  Murcia — hijo  de  Granada,"  "  I  am  a 
son  of  Murcia — a  son  of  Granada,"  &c.  This  is  strictly  analo- 
gous to  the  "  Children  of  Israel,"  the  "  Beni"  of  the  Spanish 
Moors,  and  to  this  day  the  Arabs  of  Cairo  call  themselves  chil- 
dren of  that  town,  "  Ibn  el  Musr,"  &c. ;  and  just  as  the  Milesian 
Irishman  is  "a  loy  from  Tipperary,"  &c.,  and  ready  to  fight 
with  any  one  who  is  so  also,  against  all  who  are  not  of  that  ilk ; 
similar  too  is  the  clanship  of  the  Highlander ;  indeed,  every- 
where, not  perhaps  to  the  same  extent  as  in  Spain,  the  being  of 


4  THE  SPANIARDS   AND    THEIR   COUNTRY. 

the  same  province  or  town  creates  a  powerful  freemasonry  ;  the 
parties  cling  together  like  old  school-fellows.  It  is  a  home  and 
really  binding  feeling.  To  the  spot  of  their  birth  all  their  recollec- 
tions, comparisons,  and  eulogies  are  turned  ;  nothing  to  them 
comes  up  to  their  particular  province,  that  is,  their  real  country. 
"  La  Patria"  meaning  Spain  at  large,  is  a  subject  of  declama- 
tion, fine  words,  palabras — palaver,  in  which  all,  like  Orien- 
tals, delight  to  indulge,  and  to  which  their  grandiloquent  idiom 
lends  itself  readily ;  but  their  patriotism  is  parochial,  and  self  is 
the  centre  of  Spanish  gravity.  Like  the  German,  they  may  sing 
and  spout  about  Fatherland  :  in  both  cases  the  theory  is  splendid, 
but  in  practice  each. Spaniard  thinks  his  own  province  or  town  the 
best  in  the  Peninsula,  and  himself  the  finest  fellow  in  it.  From 
the  earliest  period  down  to  the  present  all  observers  have  been 
struck  with  this  localism  as  a  salient  feature  in  the  character  of 
the  Iberians,  who  never  would  amalgamate,  never  would,  as 
Strabo  said,  put  their  shields  together — never  would  sacrifice  their 
own  local  private  interest  for  the  general  good  ;  on  the  contrary, 
in  the  hour  of  need  they  had,  as  at  present,  a  constant  tendency 
to  separate  into  distinct  juntas,  "  collective"  assemblies,  each  of 
which  only  thought  of  its  own  views,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  in- 
jury thereby  occasioned  to  what  ought  to  have  been  the  common 
cause  of  all.  Common  danger  and  interest  scarcely  can  keep 
them  together,  the  tendency  of  each  being  rather  to  repel  than  to 
attract  the  other :  the  common  enemy  once  removed,  they  in- 
stantly fall  to  loggerheads  among  each  other,  especially  if  there 
be  any  spoil  to  be  divided  ;  scarcely  ever,  as  in  the  East,  can  the 
energy  of  one  individual  bind  the  loose  staves  by  the  iron  power 
of  a  master  mind  ;  remove  the  band,  and  the  centrifugal  mem- 
bers instantaneously  disunite.  Thus  the  virility  and  vitality  of 
the  noble  people  have  been  neutralized  :  they  have,  indeed,  strong 
limbs  and  honest  hearts  •  but,  as  in  the  Oriental  parable,  "  a  head'' 
is  wanting  to  direct  and  govern  :  hence  Spain  is  to-day,  as  it  al- 
ways has  been,  a  bundle  of  small  bcdies  tied  together  by  a  rope  of 
sand,  and,  being  without  union  is  also  without  strength,  and  has  been 
beaten  in  detail.  The  much-used  phrase  Espanolismo  expresses 
rather  a  "  dislike  of  foreign  dictation,"  and  the  "  self-estimation"  of 
Spaniards,  Espanoles  sobre  todos,  than  any  real  patriotic  love  of 


ADMIRATION   OF   SPAIN. 


country,  however  highly  they  rate  its  excellences  and  superiority 
to  every  other  one  under  heaven :  this  opinion  is  condensed  in 
one  of  those  pithy  proverbs  which,  nowhere  more  than  in  Spain, 
are  the  exponents  of  popular  sentiment:  it  runs  thus, — "'  Quien 
dice  Espana,  dice  todo,"  which  means,  "  Whoever  says  Spain, 
says  everything."  A  foreigner  may  perhaps  think  this  a  trifle 
too  comprehensive  and  exclusive ;  but  he  will  do  well  to  express 
no  doubts  on  the  subject,  since  he  will  only  be  set  down  by  every 
native  as  either  jealous,  envious  or  ignorant,  and  probably  all 
three. 

To  boast  of  Spain's  strength,  said  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  is 
the  national  weakness.  Every  infinitesimal  particle  which  con- 
stitutes nosotros,  or  ourselves,  as  Spaniards  term  themselves,  will 
talk  of  his  country  as  if  the  armies  were  still  led  to  victory  by  the 
mighty  Charles  V.,  or  the  councils  managed  by  Philip  II.  instead 
of  Louis-Philippe.  Fortunate,  indeed,  was  it,  according  to  a 
Castilian  preacher,  that  the  Pyrenees  concealed  Spain  when  the 
Wicked  One  tempted  the  Son  of  Man  by  an  offer  of  all  the  king- 
doms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them.  This,  indeed,  was 
predicated  in  the  mediaeval  or  dark  ages,  but  few  peninsular  con- 
gregations, even  in  these  enlightened  times,  would  dispute  the  in- 
ference. It  was  but  the  other  day  that  a  foreigner  was  relating 
in  a  tertulia,  or  conversazione  of  Madrid,  the  well-known  anecdote 
of  Adam's  revisit  to  the  earth.  The  narrator  explained  how  our 
first  father  on  lighting  in  Italy  was  perplexed  and  taken  aback ; 
how,  on  crossing  the  Alps  into  Germany,  he  found  nothing  that 
he  could  understand — how  matters  got  darker  and  stranger  at 
Paris,  until  on  his  reaching  England  he  was  altogether  lost,  con- 
founded, and  abroad,  being  unable  to  make  out  any  thing.  Spain 
was  his  next  point,  where,  to  his  infinite  satisfaction,  he  found 
himself  quite  at  home,  so  little  had  things  changed  since  his  ab- 
sence, or  indeed  since  the  sun  at  its  creation  first  shone  over 
Toledo.  The  story  concluded,  a  distinguished  Spaniard,  who 
was  present,  hurt  perhaps  at  the  somewhat  protestant-dissenting 
tone  of  the  speaker,  gravely  remarked,  the  rest  of  the  party  coin- 
ciding,— Si,  Senor,  y  tenia  razon ;  la  Espana  es  Paradiso—~ 
"  Adam,  Sir,  was  right,  for  Spain  is  paradise  ;"  and  in  many 
respects  this  worthy,  zealous  gentleman  was  not  wrong,  although 


THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


it  is  affirmed  by  sjuu  01  his  countrymen  that  some  portions  of  it 
are  inhabited  by  persons  not  totally  exempt  from  original  sin ; 
thus  the  Valencians  will  say  of  their  ravishing  huerta,  or  garden, 
Es  un  paradiso  liabitado  por  demonios, — "  It  is  an  Eden  peopled 
by  subjects  of  his  Satanic  Majesty."  Again,  according  to  the 
natives,  Murcia,  a  land  overflowing  with  milk  and  honey,  where 
Flora  and  Pomona  dispute  the  prize  with  Ceres  and  Bacchus, 
possesses  a  cielo  y  suelo  bueno,  el  entresuelo  malo,  has  "  a  sky  and 
soil  that  are  good,  while  all  between  is  indifferent;'"'  which  the 
entresol  occupant  must  settle  to  his  liking. 

Another  little  anecdote,  like  a  straw  thrown  up  in  the  air,  will 
point  out  the  direction  in  which  the  wind  blows.  Monsieur  Thiers, 
the  great  historical  romance  writer,  in  his  recent  hand- gallop 
tour  through  the  Peninsular^  passed  a  few  days  only  at  Madrid  ; 
his  mind  being,  as  logicians  would  say,  of  a  subjective  rather  than 
an  objective  turn,  that  is,  disposed  rather  to  the  consideration  of 
the  ego,  and  to  things  relating  to  self,  than  to  those  that  do  not, 
he  scarcely  looked  more  at  any  thing  there,  than  he"  did  during 
his  similar  run  through  London  :  "  Behold,"  said  the  Spaniards, 
"that  little  gabacho ;  he  dares  not  remain,  nor  raise  his  eyes 
from  the  ground  in  this  land,  whose  vast  superiority  wounds  his 
personal  and  national  vanity."  There  is  nothing  new  in  this. 
The  old  Castilian  has  an  older  saying  : — Si  Dios  no  fuese  Dios, 
seria  rey  de  las  Espanas,  y  el  de  Francia  su  cocinero — "  If  God 
Were  not  God,  he  would  make  himself  king  of  the  Spains,  with 
him  of  France  for  his  cook."  Lope  de  Vega,  without  de- 
rogating one  jot  from  these  paradisiacal  pretensions,  used  him  of 
England  better.  His  sonnet  on  the  romantic  trip  to  Madrid  ran 
thus : — 

"  Carlos  Stuardo  soy, 

due  siendo  amor  mi  guia 
Al  cielo  de  Espana  voy, 
Por  ver  mi  estrella  Maria." 

"  I  am  Charles  Stuart,  who,  with  love  for  my  guide,  hasten  to 
the  heaven  Spain  to  see  my  star  Mary."  The  Virgin,  it  must  be 
remembered,  after  whom  this  infanta  was  named,  is  held  by  every 
Spaniard  to  be  the  brightest  luminary,  and  the  sole  empress  of 
heaven. 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  SPAIN. 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Geography  of  Spain — Zones — Mountains — The  Pyrenees — The  Ga- 
bacho,  and  French  Politics. 

FROM  Spain  being  the  most  southern  country  in  Europe,  it  is 
very  natural  that  those  who  have  never  been  there,  and  who  in 
England  criticise  those  who  have,  should  imagine  the  climate  to 
be  even  more  delicious  than  that  of  Ttaly  or  Greece.  This  is  far 
from  being  the  fact.;  some,  indeed,  of  the  sea  coasts  and  sheltered 
plains  in  the  S.  and  E.  provinces  are  warm  in  winter,  and  ex- 
posed to  an  almost  African  sun  in  summer,  but  the  N.  and  W. 
districts  are  damp  and  rainy  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
while  the  interior  is  either  cold  and  cheerless,  or  sunburnt  and 
wind-blown  :  winters  have  occurred  at  Madrid  of  such  severity 
that  sentinels  have  been  frozen  to  death  •  and  frequently  all  com- 
munication is  suspended  by  the  depth  of  the  snow  in  the  elevated 
roads  over  the  mountain  passes  of  the  Castiles.  All,  therefore, 
who  are  about  to  travel  through  the  Peninsula,  are  particularly 
cautioned  to  consider  well  their  line  of  route  beforehand,  and  to 
select  certain  portions  to  be  yisited  at  certain  seasons,  and  thus 
avoid  every  local  disadvantage. 

One  glance  at  a  map  of  Europe  will  convey  a  clearer  notion 
of  the  relative  position  of  Spain  in  regard  to  other  countries  than  • 
pages  of  letter-press  :  this  is  an  advantage  which  every  school- 
boy possesses  over  the  Plinys  and  Strabos  of  antiquity  ;  the  an- 
cients were  content  to  compare  the  shape  of  the  Peninsula  to  that 
of  a  bull's  hide,  nor  was  the  comparison  ill  chosen  in  some  re- 
spects. We  will  not  weary  readers  with  details  of  latitude  and 
longitude,  but  just,  mention  that  the  whole  superficies  of  the  Pe- 
ninsula, including  Portugal,  contains  upwards  of  19,000  square 
leagues,  of  which  somewhat  more  than  15,500  belong  to  Spain; 

is  thus  almost  twice  as  large  as  the  British  Islands,  and  only 


8  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

one-tenth  smaller  than  France  ;  the  circumference  or  coast-line 
is  estimated  at  750  leagues.  This  compact  and  isolated  territory, 
inhabited  by  a  fine,  hardy,  warlike  population,. ought  therefore, 
to  have  rivalled  France  in  military  power,  while  its  position  be- 
tween those  two  great  seas  which  command  the  commerce  of  the 
old  and  new  world,  its  indented  line  of  coast,  abounding  in  bays 
and  harbors,  offered  every  advantage  of  vying  with  England  in 
maritime  enterprise. 

Nature  has  provided  commensurate  outlets  for  the  infinite  pro- 
ductions of  a  country  which  is  rich  alike  in  everything  that  is  to 
be  found  either  on  the  face  or  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ;  for  the 
mines  and  quarries  abound  with  precious  metals  and 'marbles, 
from  gold  to  iron,  from  the  agate  to  coal,  while  a  fertile  soil  and 
every  possible  variety  of  climate  admit  of  unlimited  cultivation 
of  the  natural  productions  of  the  temperate  or  tropical  zones  : 
thus  in  the'  province  of  Granada  the  sugar-cane  and  cotton-tree 
luxuriate  at  the  base  of  ranges  which  are  covered  with  eternal 
snow :  a  wide  range  is  thus  afforded  to  the  botanist,  who  may 
ascend  by  zones,  through  every  variety  of  vegetable  strata,  from 
the  hothouse  plant  growing  wild,  to  the  hardiest  lichen.  It  has, 
indeed,  required  the  utmost  ingenuity  and  bad  government  of 
man  to  neutralize  the  prodigality  of  advantages  which  Provi- 
dence has  lavished  on  this  highly-favored  land,  and  which, 
while  under  the  dominion  of  the  Romans  and  Moors,  resembled 
an  Eden,  a  garden  of  plenty  and  delight,  when  in  the  words  of  an 
old  author,  there  was  nothing  idle,  nothing  barren  in  Spain — 
"nihil  otiosum,  nihil  sterile  in  Hispania."  A  sad  change  has 
come  over  this  fair  vision,  and  now  the  bulk  of  the  Peninsula 
offers  a  picture  of  neglect  and  desolation,  moral  and  physical, 
which  it  is  painful  to  contemplate:  the  face  of  nature  and  the 
mind  of  man  have  too  often  been  dwarfed  and  curtailed  of  their 
fair  proportions  ;  they  have  either  been  neglected  and  their  in- 
herent fertility  allowed  to  run  into  vice  and  luxuriant  weeds, 
which  it  will  show  against  any  country  in  the  world,  or  their 
energies  have  been  misdirected,  and  a  capability  of  all  good  con- 
verted into  an  element  equally  powerful  for  evil ;  but  pride  and 
laziness  are  here  as  everywhere  the  keys  to  poverty,  altivez  y 
pereza,  Haves  de  pobreza. 


CLIMATE  AND   ELEVATION   OF   SPAIN.  9 

The  geological  construction  of  Spain  is  very  peculiar,  and 
unlike  that  of  mqst  other  countries ;  it  is  almost  one  mountain  or 
agglomeration  of  mountains,  as  those  of  our  countrymen  who  are 
speculating  in  Spanish  railroads  are  just  beginning  to  discover 
The  interior  rises  on  every  side  from  the  sea,  and  the  central 
portions  are  higher  than  any  other  table-lands  in  Europe,  ranging 
on  an  average  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  while  from  this  elevated  plain  chains  of  mountains  rise 
again  to  a  still  greater  height.  Madrid,  which  stands  on  this 
central  plateau,  is  situated  about  2000  feet  above  the  leve1  of 
Naples,  which  lies  in  the  same  latitude ;  the  mean  temperature 
of  Madrid  is  50°,  while  that  of  Naples  is  63°  30' ;  it  is  to  this 
difference  of  elevation  that  the  extraordinary  difference  of  cli- 
mate and  vegetable  productions  between  the  two  capitals  is  to  be 
ascribed.  Fruits  which  flourish  on  the  coasts  of  Provence  and 
Genoa,  which  lie  four  degrees  more  to  the  north  than  any  por- 
tion of  Spain,  are  rarely  to  be  met -with  in  the  elevated  interior 
of  the  Peninsula  :  on  the  other  hand,  the  low  and  sunny  mari- 
time belts  abound  with  productions  of  a  tropical  vegetation.  The 
mountainous  character  and  general  aspect  of  the  coast  are  nearly 
analogous  throughout  the  circuit  which  extends  from  the  Basque 
Provinces  to  Cape  Finisterre  :  and  offer  a  remarkable  contrast 
to  those  sunny  alluvial  plains  which  extend,  more  or  less,  from 
Cadiz  to  Barcelona,  and  which  closely  resemble  each  other  in 
vegetable  productions,  such  as  the  fig,  orange,  pomegranate,  aloe, 
and  carob  tree,  which  grow  everywhere  in  profusion,  except  in 
those  parts  where  the  mountains  come  down  abruptly  into  the 
sea  itself.  Again,  the  central  districts,  composed  of  vast  plains 
and  steppes,  Parameras,  Tierras  de  campo,  y  Secanos,  closely 
resemble  each  other  in  their  monotonous  denuded  aspect,  in 
their  scarcity  of  fruit  and  timber,  and  their  abundance  of  cereal 
productions. 

Spanish  geographers  have  divided  the  Peninsula  into  .seven 
distinct  chains  of  mountains.  These  commence  with  the  Pyre- 
nees and  end  with  the  Bostican  or  Andalucian  ranges  :  these 
cordillcras,  or  lines  of  lofty  ridges,  arise  on  each  side  of  inter, 
evening  plains,  which  once  formed  the  basins  of  internal  lakes, 
until  the  accumulated  waters,  by  bursting  through  the  obeitruc- 

2* 


10  THE  SPANIARDS   AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

tions  by  which  they  were  dammed  up,  found  a  passage  to  the 
ocean  :  the  dip  or  inclination  of  the  country  lies  from  the  east 
towards  the  west,  and,  accordingly,  the  chief  rivers  which  form 
the  drains  and  principal  water- sheds  of  the  greater  parts  of  the 
surface,  flow  into  the  Atlantic  :  their  courses,  like  the  basins 
through  which  they  pass,  lie  in  a  transversal  and  almost  a 
parallel  direction  ;  thus  the  Duero,  the  Tagus,  the  Guadiana, 
and  the  Guadalquivir,  all  flow  into  their  recipient  between  their 
distinct  chains  of  mountains.  The  sources  of  the  supply  to  these 
leading  arteries  arise  in  the  longitudinal  range  of  elevations 
which  descends  all  through  the  Peninsula,  approaching  rather  to 
the  eastern  than  to  the  western  coast,  whereby  a  considerably 
greater  length  is  obtained  by  each  of  these  four  rivers,  when 
compared  to  the  Ebro,  which  disembogues  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

The  Moorish  geographer  Alrasi  was  the  first  to  take  difference 
of  climate  as  the  rule  of  dividing  the  Peninsula  into  distinct 
portions ;  and  modern  authorities,  carrying  out  this  idea,  have 
drawn  an  imaginary  line,  which  runs  north-east  to  south-west, 
thus  separating  the  Peninsula  into  the  northern,  or  the  boreal 
and  temperate,  and  the  southern  or  the  torrid,  and  subdividing 
these  two  into  four  zones :  nor  is  this  division  altogether  fanciful, 
for  there  is  no  caprice  or  mistake  in  tests  derived  from  the 
vegetable  world  ;  manners  may  make  man,  but  the  sun  alone 
modifies  the  plant :  man  may  be  fused  down  by  social  appliances 
into  one  uniform  mass,  but  the  rude  elements  are  not  to  be 
civilized,  nor  can  nature  be  made  cosmopolitan,  which  heaven 
for  fend. 

The  first  or  northern  zone  is  the  Cantabrian,  the  European  ; 
this  portion  skirts  the  base  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  includes  portions 
of  Catalonia,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  the  Basque  provinces,  the 
Asturias,  and  Gallicia.  This  is  the  region  of  humidity,  and  as 
the  winters  are  long,  and  the  springs  and  autumns  rainy,  it 
should  only  be  visited  in  the  summer.  It  is-  a  country  of  hill 
and  dale,  is  intersected  by  numerous  streams  which  abound  in 
fish,  and  which  irrigate  rich  meadows  for  pastures.  The  valleys 
form  the  now  improving  dairy  country  of  Spain  while  the 
mountains  furnish  the  most  valuable  and  available  timber  of  the 


ZONES   OF   SPAIN. 


Peninsula.  In  some  parts  corn  will  scarcely  ripen,  while  in 
others,  in  addition  to  the  cerealia,  cider  and  an  ordinary  wine 
*re  produced.  It  is  inhabited  by  a  hardy,  independent,  and 
rarely  subdued  population,  since  the  mountainous  country  offers 
natural  means  of  defence  to  brave  highlanders.  It  is  useless  to 
Attempt  the  conquest  with  a  small  army,  while  a  large  one  would 
Snd  no  means  of  support  in  the  hungry  localities. 

Tlie  second  zone  is  the  Iberian  or  eastern,  which,  in  its  mari- 
time portions,  is  more  Asiatic  than  European,  and  where  the  lower 
classes  partake  of  the  Greek  and  Carthaginian  character,  being 
false,  cruel,  and  treacherous,  yet  lively,  ingenious,  and  fond  of 
pleasure  ;  this  portion  commences  at  Burgos,  and  includes  the 
southern  portion  of  Catalonia  and  Arragon,  with  parts  of  Castile, 
Valencia,  and  Murcia.  The  sea-coasts  should  be  visited  in  the 
spring  and  autumn,  when  they  are  delicious :  but  they  are  in- 
tensely hot  in  the  summer,  and  infested  with  myriads  of  mus- 
kitoes.  The  districts  about  Burgos  are  among  the  coldest  in 
Spain,  and  the  thermometer  sinks  very  much  below  the  ordinary 
average  of  our  more  temperate  climate  ;  and  as  they  have  little 
at  any  time  to  attract  the  traveller,  he  will  do  well  to  avoid  them 
except  during  the  summer  months.  The  population  is  grave, 
sober,  and  Castilian.  The  elevation  is  very  considerable ;  thus 
the  upper  valley  of  the  Mino  and  some  of  the  north-western  por- 
tions of  old  Castile  and  Leon  are  placed  more  than  6000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  frosts  often  last  for  three  months 
at  a  time. 

The  third  zone  is  the  Lusitaniari,  or  western,  which  is  by  far 
the  largest,  and  includes  the  central  parts  of  Spain  and  all  Por- 
tugal. The  interior  of  this  portion,  and  especially  the  provinces 
of  the  two  Castiles  and  La  Mancha,  both  in  the  physical  condition 
of  the  soil  and  the  moral  qualities  of  the  inhabitants,  presents  a 
very  unfavorable  view  of  the  Peninsula,  as  these  inland  steppes 
are  burnt  up  by  summer  suns,  and  are  tempest  and  wind-rent 
during  winter.  The  general  absence  of  trees,  hedges,  and  en- 
closures exposes  these  wide  unprotected  plains  to  the  rage  and 
violence  of  the  elements  :  poverty-stricken  mud  houses,  scattered 
here  and  there  in  the  desolate  extent,  alford  a  wretched  home  to 
a  poor,  proud,  and  ignorant  population  ;  but  these  localities,  which 


12  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

offer  in  themselves  neither  pleasure  nor  profit  to  the  stranger, 
contain  many  sites  and  cities  of  the  highest  interest,  which  none 
who  wish  to  understand  Spain  can  possibly  pass  by  unnoticed. 
The  best  periods  for  visiting  this  portion  of  Spain  are  May  and 
June,  or  September  and  October. 

The  more  western  districts  of  this  Lusitanian  zone  are  not  so 
disagreeable.  There  in  the  uplands  the  ilex  and  chesnut  abound, 
while  the  rich  plains  produce  vast  harvests  of  corn,  and  the  vine- 
yards powerful  red  wines.  The  central  table-land,  which  closely 
resembles  the  plateau  of  Mexico,  forms  nearly  one-half  of  the 
entire  area  of  the  Peninsula.  The  peculiarity  of  the  climate  is  its 
dryness ;  it  is^not,  however,  unhealthy,  being  free  from  the  agues 
and  fevers  which  are  prevalent  in  the  lower  plains,  river-swamps, 
and  rice-grounds  of  parts  of  Valencia  and  Andalucia.  Rain, 
indeed,  is  so  comparatively  scarce  on  this  table-land,  that  the 
annual  quantity  on  an  average  does  not  amount  to  more  than  ten 
inches.  The  least  quantity  falls  in  the  mountain  regions  near 
Guadalupe,  and  on  the  high  plains  of  Cuenca  and  Murcia, 
where  sometimes  eight  or  nine  months  pass  without  a  drop  fall- 
ing. The  occasional  thunder-storms  do  but  just  lay  the  dust, 
since  here  moisture  dries  up  quicker  even  than  woman's  tears. 
The  face  of  the  earth  is  tanned,  tawny,  and  baked  into  a  verit- 
able terra  cotta  :  everything  seems  dead  and  burnt  on  a  funeral 
pile.  It  is  all  but  a  miracle  how  the  principle  of  life  in  the  green 
herb  is  preserved,  since  the  very  grass  appears  scorched  and 
dead  ;  yet  when  once  the  rains  set  in,  vegetation  springs  up, 
phoenix-like,  from  the  ashes,  and  bursts  forth  in  an  inconceivable 
luxuriance  and  life.  The  ripe  seeds  which  have  fallen  on  the 
soil  are  called  into  existence,  carpeting  the  desert  with  verdure, 
gladdening  the  eye  with  flowers,  and  intoxicating  the  senses  with 
perfume.  The  thirsty  chinky  dry  earth  drinks  in  these  genial 
showers,  and  then  rising  like  a  giant  refreshed  with  wine,  puts 
forth  all  its  strength  ;  and  what  vegetation  is,  where  moisture  is 
combined  with  great  heat,  cannot  even  be  guessed  at  in  lands  of 
stinted  suns.  The  periods  of  rains  are  the  winter  and  spring, 
and  when  these  are  plentiful,  all  kinds  of  grain,  and  in  many 
places  wines,  are  produced  in  abundance.  The  olive,  however, 
is  only  to  be  met  with  in  a  few  favored  localities. 


GEOGRAPHY   OF   SPAIN.  13 

The  fourth  zone  is  the.Bcetican,  which  is  the  most  southern  and 
African  ;  it  coasts  the  Mediterranean,  basking  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  which  rise  behind  and  form  the  mass  of  the  Peninsula : 
this  mural  barrier  offers  a  sure  protection  against  the  cold  winds 
which  sweep  across  the  central  region.  Nothing  can  be  more 
striking  than  the  descent  from  the  table  elevations  into  these 
maritime  strips  ;  in  a  few  hours  the  face  of  nature  is  completely 
changed,  and  the  traveller  passes  from  the  climate  and  vegeta- 
tion of  Europe  into  that  of  Africa.  This  region  is  characterized 
by  a  dry  burning  atmosphere  during  a  large  part  of  the  year. 
The  winters  are  short  and  temperate,  and  consist  rather  in  ram 
than  in  cold,  for  in  the  sunny  valleys  ice  is  scarcely  known  ex- 
cept for  eating  ;  the  springs  and  autumns  delightful  beyond  all 
conception.  Much  of  the  cultivation  depends  on  artificial  irriga- 
tion, which  was  carried  by  the  Moors  to  the  highest  perfection  : 
indeed  water,  under  this  forcing,  vivifying  sun,  is  the  blood  of 
the  earth,  and  synonymous  with  fertility  :  the  productions  are 
tropical  ;  sugar,  cotton,  rice,  the  orange,  lemon,  and  date.  The 
algarrobo,  the  carob  tree,  and  the  adelfa,  the  oleander,  may  be 
considered  as  forming  boundary  marks  between  this,  the  tierra 
caliente,  or  torrid  district,  and  the  colder  regions  by  which  it  is 
encompassed. 

Such  are  the  geographical  divisions  of  nature  with  which  the 
vegetable  and  animal  productions  are  closely  connected ;  and  we 
shall  presently  enter  somewhat  more  fully  into  the  climate  of 
Spain,  of  which  the  natives  are  as  proud  as  if  they  had  made  it 
themselves.  This  Bcetican  zone,  Andalucia,  which  contains  in 
itself  many  of  the  most  interesting  cities,  sites,  and  natural 
beauties  of  the  Peninsula,  will  always  take  precedence  in  any 
plan  of  the  traveller,  and  each  of  these  points  has  its  own  peculiar 
attractions.  These  embrace  a  wide  range  of  varied  scenery  and 
objects ;  and  Andalucia,  easy  of  access,  may  be  gone  over  almost 
at  every  portion  of  the  year.  The  winters  may  be  spent  at  Cadiz, 
Seville,  or  Malaga  ;  the  summers  in  the  cool  mountains  of  Ronda, 
Aracena,  or  Granada.  April,  May,  and  June,  or  September, 
October,  and  November,  are,  however,  the  most  preferable. 
Those  who  go  in  the  spring  should  reserve  June  for  the  moun- 
tains; those  who  go  in  the  autumn  should  reverse  the  plan,  and 


14  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

commence  with  Honda  and  Granada,  ending  with  Seville  and 
Cadiz. 

Spain,  it  has  thus  been  shown,  is  one  mountain,  or  rather  a 
jumble  of  mountains — for  the  principal  and  secondary  ranges  are 
all  more  or  less  connected  with  each  other,  and  descend  in  a  ser- 
pentising  direction  throughout  the  Peninsula,  with  a  general  in- 
clination to  the  west.  Nature,  by  thus  dislocating  the  country, 
seems  to  have  suggested,  nay.  almost  to  have  forced,  localism  and 
isolation  to  the  inhabitants,  who  each  in  their  valleys  and  districts 
are  shut  off  from  their  neighbors,  whom  to  love,  they  are  enjoined 
in  vain. 

The  internal  communication  of  the  Peninsula,  which  is  thus 
divided  by  the  mountain-walls,  is  effected  by  some  good  roads, 
few  and  far  between,  and  which  are  carried  .over  the  most  conve- 
nient points,  where  the  natural  dips  are  the  lowest,  and  the  ascents 
and  descents  the  most  practicable.  These  passes  are  called  Pu- 
ertos — porta,  or  gates.  There  are,  indeed,  mule-tracks  and  goat- 
paths  over  other  and  intermediate  portions  of  the  chain,  but  they 
are  difficult  and  dangerous,  and  being  seldom  provided  with  ventas 
or  villages,  are  fitter  for  smugglers  and  bandits  than  honest  men ; 
the  farthest  and  fairest  way  about  will  always  be  found  the  best 
and  shortest  road. 

The  Spanish  mountains  in  general  have  a  dreary  and  harsh 
character,  yet  not  without  a  certain  desolate  sublimity  •  the  high- 
est are  frequently  capped  with  snow,  which  glistens  in  the  clear 
sky.  They  are  rarely  clad  with  forest  trees ;  the  scarped  and 
denuded  ridges  cut  with  a  serrated  outline  the  clean  clear  blue 
sky.  The  granitic  masses  soar  above  the  green  valley  or  yellow 
corn-plains  in  solitary  state,  like  the  castles  of  a  feudal  baron, 
that  lord  it  over  all  below,  with  which  they  are  too  proud  to  have 
aught  in  common.  These  mountains  are  seen  to  greatest  advan- 
tage at  the  rise  and  setting  of  the  sun,  for  during  the  day  the  ver- 
tical rays  destroy  all  form  by  removing  shadows. 

These  geographical  peculiarities  of  Spain,  and  particularly  the 
existence  of  the  great  central  elevation,  when  once  attained  are 
apt  to  be  forgotten.     The  country  rises  from  the  coast,  directly  in 
the  north-western   provinces,  and  in  some  of  the  southern  and  • 
eastern,  with  an  intervening  alluvial  strip  and  swell ;  but  when 


THE  PYRENEES.  15 


once  the  ascent  is  accomplished,  no  real  descent  ever  takes  place 
— we  are  then  on  the  summit  of  a  vast  elevated  mass.  The  roads 
indeed  apparently  ascend  and  descend,  but  the  mean  height  is 
seldom  diminished :  the  interior  hills  or  plains  are  undulations  of 
one  mountain.  The  traveller  is  often  deceived  at  the  apparent 
low  level  of  snow-clad  ranges,  such  as  the  Guadarrama  ;  this  will 
be  accounted  for  by  adding  the  great  elevation  of  their  bases 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  palace  of  the  Escorial,  which  is 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  Guadarrama,  and  at  the  head  of  a  seem- 
ing plain,  stands  in  reality  at  2725  feet  above  Valencia,  while  the 
summer  residence  of  the  king  at  La  Granja,  in  the  same  chain,  i» 
thirty  feet  higher  than  the  summit  of  Vesuvius.  This,  indeed,  is 
a  castle  in  the  air — a  chateau  en  Espagne,  and  worthy  of  the 
most  German  potentate  to  whom  that  element  belongs,  as  the  sea 
does  to  Britannia.  The  mean  temperature  on  the  plateau  of 
Spain  is  as  15°  Reaumur,  while  that  of  the  coast  is  as  18°  and  19°, 
in  addition  to  the  protection  from  cutting  winds  which  their  moun- 
tainous backgrounds  afford  ;  nor  is  the  traveller  less  deceived  as 
regards  the  heights  of  the  interior  mountains  than  he  is  with  the 
champaigns  or  table-land  plains.  The  eye  wanders  over  a  vast 
level  extent  bounded  only  by  the  horizon,  or  a  faint  blue  line  of 
other  distant  sierras  ;  this  space,  which  appears  one  townless  level, 
is  intersected  with  deep  ravines,  barrancos,  in  which  villages  lie 
concealed,  and  streams,  arroyos,  flow  unperceived.  Another  im- 
portant effect  of  this  central  elevation  is  the  searching  dry  ness  and 
rarification  of  the  air.  It  is  often  highly  prejudicial  to  strangers; 
the  least  exposure,  which  is  very  tempting  under  a  burning  sun, 
will  often  bring  on  ophthalmia,' irritable  colics,  and  inflammatory 
diseases  of  the  lungs  and  vital  organs.  Such  are  the  causes  of 
the  pulmonia,  which  carries  off  the  invalid  in  a  few  days,  and  is 
the  disease  of  Madrid.  The  frozen  blasts  descending  from  the 
,  snow-clad  Guadarrama  catch  the  incautious  passenger  at  the  turn- 
ing of  streets  which  are  roasting  under  a  fierce  sun.  Is  it  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  this  capital  should  be  so  very  insalubrious  ?  in 
Avinter  you  are  frozen  alive,  in  summer  baked.  A  man  taking  a 
walk  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  crosses  with  his  pores  open  from 
an  oven  to  an  ice-house  ;  catch-cold  introduces  the  Spanish  doc- 
tor, who  soon  in  his  turn  presents  the  undertaker. 


16  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

As  the  Pyrenees  possess  an  European  interest  at  this  moment, 
when  the  Napoleon  of  Peace  proposes  to  annihilate  their  existence, 
which  defied  Louis  XIV.  and  Buonaparte,  some  details  may  not 
be  unacceptable.  This  gigantic  barrier,  which  divides  Spain  and 
France,  is  connected  with  the  dorsal  chain  which  comes  down 
from  Tartary  and  Asia.  It  stretches  far  beyond  the  transversal 
spine,  for  the  mountains  of  the  Basque  Provinces,  Asturias  and 
Gallicia,  are  its  continuation.  The  Pyrenees,  properly  speaking, 
extend  E.  to  W.,  in  length  about  270  miles,  being  both  broadest 
and  highest  in  the  central  portions,  where  the  width  is  about  60 
miles,  and  the  elevations  exceed  11,000  feet.  The  spurs  and 
offsets  of  this  great  transversal  spine  penetrate  on  both  sides  into 
the  lateral  valleys  like  ribs  from  a  back-bone.  The  central  nuo- 
leus  slopes  gradually  E.  to  the  gentle  Mediterranean,  and  W.  to 
the  fierce  Atlantic,  in  a  long  uneven  swell. 

This  range  of  mountains  was  called  by  the  Romans  Monies 
and  Saltus  Pyrenei,  and  by  the  Greeks  nvqijvij,  probably  from  a 
local  Iberian  word,  but  which  they,  as  usual,  catching  at  sound, 
not  sense,  connected  with  their  IJv o,  and  then  bolstered  up  their 
erroneous  derivation  by  a  legend  framed  to  fit  the  name,  assert- 
ing that  it  either  alluded  to  a  fire  through  which  certain  precious 
metals  were  discovered,  or  because  the  lofty  summits  were  often 
struck  with  lightning,  and  dislocated  by  the  volcanos.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Iberians,  Hercules,  when  on  his  way  to  "  lift"  Ger- 
yon's  cattle,  was  hospitably  received  by  Bebryx,  a  petty  ruler 
in  these  mountains ;  whereupon  the  demigod  got  drunk,  and  rav- 
ished his  host's  daughter  Pyrene,  who  died  of  grief,  when  Her- 
cules, sad  and  sober,  made  the  whole  range  re-echo  with  her 
name  ;  a  legend  which,  like  some  others  in  Spain,  requires  con- 
firmation, for  the  Phoenicians  called  these  ranges  Purani  from  the 
forests,  Pura  meaning  wood  in  Hebrew.  The  Basques  have,  of 
course,  their  etymology,  some  saying  that  the  real  root  is  Biri,  an 
elevation,  while  others  prefer  Bierri  enac,  the  "  two  countries," 
which,  separated  by  the  range,  were  ruled  by  Tubal ;  but 
when  Spaniards  once  begin  with  Tubal,  the  best  plan  is  to  shut 
the  book. 

The  Maledeta  is  the  loftiest  peak,  although  the  Pico  del  Me- 
diodia  and  the  Canigu,  because  rising  at  once  out  of  plains  and 


THE   GABACHO.  17 

therefore  having  the  greatest  apparent  altitudes,  were  long  con- 
sidered to  be  the  highest ;  but  now  these  French  usurpers  are 
dethroned.  Seen  from  a  distance,  the  range  appears  to  be  one 
mountain-ridge,  with  broken  pinnacles,  but,  in  fact,  it  consists  of 
two  distinct  lines,  which  are  parallel,  but  not  continuous.  The 
one  which  commences  at  the  ocean  is  the  most  forward,  being  at 
least  30  miles  more  in  advance  towards  the  south  than  the  cor- 
responding line,  which  commences  from  the  Mediterranean.  The 
centre  is  the  point  of  dislocation,  and  here  the  ramifications  and 
reticulations  are  the  most  intricate,  as  it  is  the  key-stone  of  the 
system,  which  is  buttressed  up  by  Las  Tres  Sorellas,  the  three 
sisters  Monte  Perdido,  Cylindro,  and  Marbore.  Here  is  the 
source  of  the  Garonne,  La  Garono ;  here  the  scenery  is  the 
grandest,  and  the  lateral  valleys  the  longest  and  widest.  The 
smaller  spurs  enclose  valieys,  down  each  of  which  pours  a 
stream :  thus  the  Ebro,  Garona,  and  Bidasoa  are  fed  from  the 
mountain  source.  These  tributaries  are  generally  called  in 
France  Gaves,*  and  in  some  parts  on  the  Spanish  side  Gabas  ; 
but  Gav  signifies  a  "  river,"  and  may  be  traced  in  our  Avon ; 
and  Humboldt  derives  it  from  the  Basque  Gav,  a  "  hollow  or 

*  The  word  Gabacho,  which  is  the  most  offensive  vituperative  of  the 
Spaniard  against  the  Frenchman,  and  has  by  some  been  thought  to  mean 
"  those  who  dwell  on  Gaves,"  is  the  Arabic  Cabach,  detestable,  filthy,  or,  '•  qui 
prava  indole  est,  moribusque."  In  fact  the  real  meaning  cannot  be  further 
alluded  to  beyond  referring  to  the  clever  tale  of  El  Frances  y  Espanol^  by 
duevedo.  The  antipathy  to  the  Gaul  is  natural  and  national,  and  dates  far 
beyond  history.  This  nickname  was  first  given  in  the  eighth  century,  when 
Charlemagne,  the  Buonaparte  of  his  day,  invaded  Spain,  on  the  abdication 
and  cession  of  the  crown  by  the  chaste  Alonso,  the  prototype  of  the  wittol 
Charles  IV.  5  then  the  Spanish  Moors  and  Christians,  foes  and  friends,  for- 
got their  hatreds  of  creeds  in  the  greater  loathing  for  the  abhorred  intruder, 
whose  u  peerage  fell ''  in  the  memorable  passes  of  Roncesvalles.  The  true 
derivation  of  the  word  Gabacho,  which  now  resounds  from  these  Pyrenees  to 
the  Straits,  is  blinked  in  the  royal  academical  dictionary,  such  was  the  ser- 
vile adulation  of  the  members  to  their  French  patron  Philip  V.  Mueran 
7c?  Gabachos^  "  Death  to  the  miscreants."'  was  the  rally  cry  of  Spain  after 
the  inhuman  butcheries  of  the  terrorist  Murat :  nor  have  the  echoes  died 
away  ;  a  spark  may  kindle  the  prepared  mine :  of  what  an  unspeakable  value 
is  a  national  war-cry  which  at  once  gives  to  a  whole  people  a  shibbolethj  a 
rallying  watch-word  to  a  common  cause  !  Vox  popuH  vox  Dei. 


18  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

ravine;"  cavus.  The  parting  of  these  waters,  or  their  flowing 
down  either  N.  or  S.,  should  naturally  mark  the  line  of  division 
between  France  and  Spain  :  such,  however,  is  not  the  case,  as 
part  of  Cerdana  belongs  to  France,  while  Aran  belongs  to  Spain ; 
thus  each  country  possesses  a  key  in  its  neighbor's  territory.  It 
is  singular  that  this  obvious  inconvenience  should  not  have  been 
remedied  by  some  exchange  when  the  long  disputed  boundary- 
question  was  settled  between  Charles  IV.  and  the  French  re- 
public. 

Most  of  the  passes  over  this  Alpine  barrier  are  impracticable 
for  carriages,  and  remain  much  in  the  same  state  as  in  the  time 
of  the  Moors,  who  from  them  called  the  Pyrenean  range  Albort, 
from  the  Roman  Porto,  the  ridge  of  "gates."  Many  of  the  wild 
passes  are  only  known  to  the  natives  and  smugglers,  and  are 
often  impracticable  from  the  snow ;  while  even  in  summer  they 
are  dangerous,  being  exposed  to  mists  and  the  hurricanes  of 
mighty  rushing  winds.  The  two  best  carriageable  lines  of  inter- 
communication are  placed  at  each  extremity  :  that  to  the  west 
passes  through  Irun  ;  that  to  the  east  through  Figueras. 

The  Spanish  Pyrenees  offer  few  attractions  to  the  lovers  of 
the  fleshly  comforts  of  cities ;  but  the  scenery,  sporting,  geology, 
arid  botany  are  truly  Alpine,  and  will  well  repay  those  who  can 
"  rough  it"  considerably.  The  contrast  which  the  unfrequented 
Spanish  side  offers  to  the  crowded  opposite  one  is  great.  In  Spain 
the  mountains  themselves  are  less  abrupt,  less  covered  with  snow, 
while  the  numerous  and  much  frequented  baths  in  the  French 
Pyrenees  have  created  roads,  diligences,  hotels,  tables-d'hote, 
cooks,  Ciceronis,  donkeys,  and  so  forth  •  for  the  Badauds  de 
Paris  who  babble  about  green  fields  and  des  belles  liorreurs,  but 
who  seldom  go  beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  and  hackneyed 
"  lions."  A  want  of  good  taste  and  real  perception  of  the  sublime 
and  beautiful  is  nowhere  more  striking,  says  Mr.  Erskine  Mur- 
ray, than  on  the  French  side,  where  mankind  remains  profoundly 
ignorant  of  the  real  beauties  of  the  Pyrenees,  which  have  been 
chiefly  explored  by  the  English,  who  love  nature  with  all  their 
heart  and  soul,  who  worship  her  alike  in  her  shyest  retreats  and 
in  her  wildest  forms.  Nevertheless,  on  the  north  side  many  com- 
forts  and  appliances  for  the  tourist  are  to  be  had ;  nay,  invalids 


FRENCH  POLICY.  19 


and  ladies  in  search  of  the  picturesque  can  ascend  to  the  Br£che 
de  Roland.  Once,  however, Across  the  frontier,  and  a  sudden 
change  comes  over  all  facilities  of  locomotion.  Stern  is  the  first 
welcome  of  the  "hard  land  of  Iberia,"  scarce  is  the  food  for  body 
or  mind,  and  deficient  the  accommodation  for  man  or  beast,  and 
simply  because  there  is  small  demand  for  either.  No  Spaniard 
ever  comes  here  for  pleasure ;  hence  the  localities  are  given  up 
to  the  smuggler  andUzard. 

The  Oriental  insesthetic  incuriousness  for  things,  old  stones, 
wild  scenery,  &c.,  is  increased  by  political  reasons  and  fear.  The 
neighbor,  from  the  time  of  the  Celt  down  to  to-day,  has  ever  been 
the  coveter,  ravager,  and  terror  of  Spain :  her  "  knavish  tricks," 
fire  and  rapine  are  too  numerous  to  be  blinked  or  written  away, 
too  atrocious  to  be  forgiven :  to  revenge  becomes  a  sacred  duty. 
However  governments  may  change,  the  policy  of  France  is  im- 
mutable. Perfidy,  backed  by  violence,  "ruse  doublee  de  force," 
is  the  state  maxim  from  Louis  XIV,  and  Buonaparte  down  to 
Louis-Philippe  :  the  principle  is  the  same,  whether  the  instru- 
ment employed  be  the  sword  or  wedding  ring.  The  weaker  Spain 
is  thus  linked  in  the  embrace  of  her  stronger  neighbor,  and  has 
been. made  alternately  her  dupe  and  victim,  and  degraded  into 
becoming  a  mere  satellite,  to  be  dragged  along  by  fiery  Mars. 
France  has  forced  her  to  share  all  her  bad  fortune,  but  never  has 
permitted  her  to  participate  in  her  success.  Spain  has  been  tied 
to  the  car  of  her  defeats,  but  never  has  been  allowed  to  mount  it  in 
the  day  of  triumph.  Her  friendship  has  always  tended  to  dena- 
tionalize Spain,  and  by  entailing  the  forced  enmity  of  England, 
has  caused  to  her  the  loss  of  her  navies  and  colonies  in  the  new 
world. 

"The  Pyrenean  boundary,"  says  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  "is 
the  most  vulnerable  frontier  of  France,  probably  the  only  vulne- 
rable one  ;"  accordingly  she  has  always  endeavored  to  dismantle 
the  Spanish  defences  and  to  foster  insurrections  and  pronunciami- 
entos  in  Catalonia,  for  Spain's  infirmity  is  her  opportunity,  and 
therefore  the  "  sound  policy"  of  the  rest  of  Europe  is  to  see  Spain 
strong,  independent,  and  able  to  hold  her  own  Pyrenean  key. 

While  France,  therefore,  has  improved  her  means  of  approach 
and  invasion,  Spain,  to  whom  the  past  is  prophetic  of  the  future, 


20  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

has  raised  obstacles,  and  has  left  her  protecting  barrier  as  broken 
and  hungry  as  when  planned  by  her  tutelar  divinity.  Nor  are 
her  highlanders  more  practicable  than  their  granite  fastnesses. 
Here  dwell  the  smuggler,  the  rifle  sportsman,  and  all  who  defy 
the  law :  here  is  bred  the  hardy  peasant,  who,  accustomed  to 
scale  mountains  and  fight  wolves,  becomes  a  ready  raw  material 
for  the  guerrilleros,  and  none  were  ever  more  formidable  to  Rome 
or  France  than  those  marshalled  in  these  glens  by  Sertorius  and 
Mina.  When  the  tocsin  bell  rings  out,  a  hornet  swarm  of  armed 
men,  the  weed  of  the  hills,  starts  up  from  every  rock  and  brake. 
The  hatred  of  the  Frenchman,  which  the  Duke  said  formed  "  part 
of  a  Spaniard's  nature,'7  seems  to  increase  in  intensity  in  propor- 
tion to  vicinity,  for  as  they  touch,  so  they  fret  and  rub  each  other : 
here  it  is  the  antipathy  of  an  antithesis  ;  the  incompatibility  of 
the  saturnine  and  slow  with  the  mercurial  and  rapid  ;  of  the 
proud,  enduring,  and  ascetic  against  the  vain,  the  fickle,  and  sen- 
sual ;  of  the  enemy  of  innovation  and  change,  to  the  lover  of 
variety  and  novelty ;  and  however  tyrants  and  tricksters  may 
assert  in  the  gilded  galleries  of  Versailles  that  II  n'y  a  plus  de 
Pyrenees,  this  party-wall  of  Alps,  this  barrier  of  snow  and  hurri- 
cane, does  and  will  exist  for  ever ;  placed  there  by  Providence, 
as  was  said  by  the  Gothic  prelate  Saint  Isidore,  they  ever  have 
forbidden  and  ever  will  forbid  the  banns  of  an  unnatural  alliance, 
as  in  the  days  of  Silius  Italicus : 

"  Pyrene  celsa  nimbosi  verticis  arce 
Divisos  Celtis  Lite  prospectat  Hiberos 
Atque  seterna  tenet  magnis  dioortia  terris." 

If  the  eagle  of  Buonaparte  could  never  build  in  the  Arragonese 
Sierra,  the  lily  of  the  Bourbon  assuredly  will  not  take  root  in  the 
Castilian  plain  ;  so  sings  Ariosto : 


- "  Che  noo  lice 


Che  '1  giglio  in  quel  terrene  habbia  radice !w 

This  inveterate  condition  either  of  pronounced  hostility,  or  at 
best  of  armed  neutrality,  has  long  rendered  these  localities  dis- 
agreeable to  the  man  of  the  note-book.  The  rugged  mountain 
frontiers  consist  of  a  series  of  secluded  districts,  which  constitute 
the  entire  world  to  the  natives,  who  seldom  go  beyond  the  natural 


THE   PYRENEES.  21 


walls  by  which  they  are  bouii'Lu,  oAcopt  to  smuggle.  This  vo- 
cation is  the  curse  of  the  country  ;  it  fosters  a  wild  reliance  on 
self-defence,  a  habit  of  border  foray  and  insurrection,,  which  seems 
as  necessary  to  them  as  a  moral  excitement  and  combustible  ele- 
ment, as  carbon  and  hydrogen  are  in  their  physical  bodies.  Their 
habitual  suspicion  against  prying  foreigners,  which  is  an  Oriental 
and  Iberian  instinct,  converts  a  curious  traveller  into  a  spy  or 
partisan.  Spanish  authorities,  who  .seldom  do  these  things  except 
on  compulsion,  cannot  understand  the  gratuitous  braving  of  hard- 
ship and  danger  for  its  own  sake — the  botanizing  and  geologizing, 
&c.,  of  the  nature  and  adventure-loving  English.  The  imperli- 
nente  curioso  may  possibly  escape  observation  in  a  Spanish  city 
and  crowd,  but  in  these  lonely  hills  it  is  out  of  the  question :  he 
is  the  observed  of  all  observers ;  and  they,  from  long  smuggling 
and  sporting  habits,  are  always  on  the  look-out,  and  are  keen- 
sighted  as  hawks,  gipseys,  and  beasts  of  prey.  Latterly  some, 
who,  by  being  placed  immediately  under  the  French  boundary, 
have  seen  the  glitter  of  our  tourists'  coin,  have  become  more  hu- 
manized, and  anxious  to  obtain  a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  season. 
The  geology  and  botany  have  yet  to  be  properly  investigated. 
In  the  metal-pregnant  Pyrenees  rude  forges  of  iron  abound,  but 
every  thing  is  conducted  on  a  small,  unscientific  scale,  and  pro- 
bably after  the  unchanged  primitive  Iberian  system.  Fuel  is 
scarce,  and  transport  of  ores  on  muleback  expensive.  The  iron 
is  at  once  inferior  to  the  English  and  much  dearer:  the  tools 
and  implements  used  on  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees  are  at  least  a 
century  behind  ours  ;  while  absurd  tariffs,  which  prevent  the 
importation  of  a  cheaper  and  better  article,  retard  improve- 
'ments  in  agriculture  and  manufactures,  and  perpetuate  povertv 
and  ignorance  among  backward,  half-civilized  populations.  The 
timber,  moreover,  has  suffered  much  from  the  usual  neglect, 
waste  and  improvidence  of  the  natives,  who  destroy  more  than 
they  consume,  and  never  replant.  The  sporting  in  these  lonely 
wild  districts  is  excellent,  for  where  man  seldom  penetrates  the 
ferse  naturae  multiply :  the  bear  is,  however,  getting  scarce,  as  a 
premium  is  placed  on  every  head  destroyed.  The  grand  object  is 
the  Cobra  Montanez,  or  Rupicapra,  German  Steinbock,  the 
Bouquetin  of  the  French,  the  Izard  (Ibex,  becco,  bouc,  bock, 


22  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

buck)*  The  fascination  of  this  pursuit,  like  that  of  the  Chamois 
in  Switzerland,  leads  to  constant  and  even  fatal  accidents,  as  this 
shy  animal  lurks  in  almost  inaccessible  localities,  and  must  be 
stalked  with  the  nicest  skill.  The  sporting  on  the  north  side  is 
far  inferior,  as  the  cooks  of  the  table-d'hotes  have  waged  a  guerra 
al  cuclitilo,  a  war  to  the  knife,  and  fork  too,  against  even  les 
peiits  oiseaux  ;  but  your  French  artiste  persecutes  even  minnows, 
as  all  sport  and  fair  play  is  scouted,  and  everything  gives  way 
for  the  pot.  The  Spaniards,  less  mechanical  and  gastronomic, 
leave  the  feathered  and  finny  tribes  in  comparative  peace.  Ac- 
cordingly the  streams  abound  with  trout,  and  those  which  flow  into 
the  Atlantic  with  salmon.  The  lofty  Pyrenees  are  not  only  alem- 
bics of  cool  crystal  streams,  but  contain,  like  the  heart  of  Sappho, 
sources  of  warm  springs  under  a  bosom  of  snow.  The  most 
celebrated  issue  on  the  north  side,  or  at  least  those  which  are  the 
most  known  and  frequented,  for  the  Spaniard  is  a  small  bather, 
and  no  great  drinker  of  medical  .waters.  Accommodations  at 
the  baths  on  this  side  scarcely  exist,  while  even  those  in  France 
are  paltry  when  compared  to  the  spas  of  Germany,  and  dirty  and 
indecent  when  contrasted  with  those  of  England.  The  scenery 
is  alpine,  a  jumble  of  mountain,  precipice,  glacier,  and  forest, 
enlivened  by  the  cataract  or  hurricane.  The  natives,  when  not 
smugglers  or  guerrilleros,  are  rude,  simple,  and  pastoral :  they 
are  poor  and  picturesque,  as  people  are  who  dwell  in  mountains. 
Plains  which  produce  "  bread-stuffs"  may  be  richer,  but  what 
can  a  traveller  or  painter  do  with  their  monotonous  commonplace  ? 
In  these  wild  tracts  the  highlanders  in  summer  lead  their 
flocks  up  to  mountain  huts  and  dwell  with  their  cattle,  strug- 
gling against  poverty  and  wild  beasts,  and  endeavoring  really  to' 
keep  the  wolf  from  the  door ;  their  watch-dogs  are  magnificent ; 
the  sheep  are  under  admirable  control — being,  as  it  were,  in  the 
presence  of  the  enemy,  they  know  the  voice  of  their  shepherds,  or 
rather  the  peculiar  whistle  and  cry :  their  wool  is  largely  smug- 
gled, into  France,  and  when  manufactured  in  the  shape  of  coarse 
?Coth  is  then  re-smuggled  back  again. 


THE   RIVERS   OF   SPAIN.  83 


CHAPTER    III 

The  Rivers  of  Spain — Bridges — Navigation — The  Ebro  and  Tagus. 

THEEE  are  six  great  rivers  in  Spain, — the  arteries  which  run 
between  the  seven  mountain  chains,  the  vertebrae  of  the  geologi- 
cal skeleton.  These  water-sheds  are  each  intersected  in  their 
extent  by  others  on  a  minor  scale,  by  valleys  and  indentations,  in 
each  of  which  runs  its  own  stream.  Thus  the  rains  and  melted 
snows  are  all  collected  in  an  infinity  of  ramifications,  and  are  car- 
ried by  these  tributary  conduits  into  one  of  the  main  trunks, 
which  all,  with  the  exception  of  the  Ebro,  empty  themselves  into 
the  Atlantic.  The  Duero  and  Tagus,  unfortunately  for  Spain, 
disembogue  in  Portugal,  and  thus  become  a  portion  of  a  foreign 
dominion  exactly  where  their  commercfel  importance  is  the  great- 
est. Philip  II.  saw  the  true  value  of  the  possession  of  an  angle 
which  rounded  Spain,  and  insured  to  her  the  possession  of  these 
valuable  outlets  of  internal  produce,  and  inlets  for  external  com- 
merce. Portugal  annexed  to  Spain  gave  more  real  power  to  his 
throne  than  the  dominion  of  entire  continents  across  the  Atlantic, 
and  is  the  secret  object  of  every  Spanish  government's  ambition. 
The  Mino,  which  is  the  shortest  of  these  rivers,  runs  through  a 
bosom  of  fertility.  The  Tajo,  Tagus,  which  the  fancy  of  poets 
'has  sanded  with  gold  and  embanked  with  roses,  tracks  much  of 
its  dreary  way  through  rocks  and  comparative  barrenness.  The 
Guadiana  creeps  through  lonely  Estremadura,  infecting  the  low 
plains  with  miasma.  The  Guadalquivir  eats  out  its  deep  banks 
amid  the  sunny  olive-clad  regions  of  Andalucia,  as  the  Ebro 
divides  the  levels  of  Arragon.  Spain  abounds  with  brackish 
streams,  Salados,  and  with  salt-mines,  or  saline  deposits  after  the 
evaporation  of  the  sea-waters;  indeed,  the  soil  of  the  central  por- 
tions is  so  strongly  impregnated  with  "  villainous  saltpetre,"  that 
'the  small  province  of  La  Mancha  alone  could  furnish  materials 


24  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

to  blow  up  the  world ;  the  surface  of  these  regions,  always  arid, 
is  every  day  becoming  more  so,  from  the  singular  antipathy 
which  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  have  against  trees.  There 
is  nothing  to  check  the  power  of  rapid  evaporation,  no  shelter  to 
protect  or  preserve  moisture.  The  soil  becomes  more  and  more 
parched  and  dried  up,  insomuch  that  in  some  parts  it  has  almost 
ceased  to  be  available  for  cultivation  :  another  serious  evil,  which 
arises  from  want  of  plantations,  is,  that  the  slopes  of  hills  are 
everywhere  liable  to  constant  denudation  of  soil  after  heavy 
rain.  There  is  nothing  to  break  the  descent  of  the  water  ;  hence  " 
the  naked,  barren  stone  summits  of  many  of  the  sierras,  which 
have  been  pared  and  peeled  of  every  particle  capable  of  nourish- 
ing vegetation  :  they  are  skeletons  where  life  is  extinct ;  not  only 
is  the  soil  thus  lost,  but  the  detritus  washed  down  either  forms 
bars  at  the  mouths  of  rivers,  or  chokes  up  and  raises  their  beds ; 
they  are  thus  rendered  liable  to  overflow  their  banks,  and  convert 
the  adjoining  plains  into  pestilential  swamps.  The  supply  of 
water,  which  is  afforded  by  periodical  rains,  and  which  ought  to 
support  the  reservoirs  of  rivers,  is  carried  off  at  once  in  violent 
floods,  rather  than  in  a  gentle  gradual  disembocation.  From  its 
mountainous  character  Spain  has  very  few  lakes,  as  the  fall  is 
too  considerable  to  allow  water  to  accumulate ;  the  exceptions 
which  do  exist  might  with  greater  propriety  be  termed  lochs — not 
that  they  are  to  be  compared  in  size  or  beauty  to  some  of  those  in 
Scotland.  The  volume  in  the  principal  rivers  of  Spain  has  di- 
minished, and  is  diminishing;  thus  some  which  once  were  navi- 
gable, are  so  no  longer,  while  the  artificial  canals  which  were  to 
have  been  substituted  remain  unfinished  :  the  progress  of  deterior- 
ation advances,  while  little  is  done  to  counteract  or  amend  what 
every  year  must  render  more  difficult  and  expensive,  while  the 
means  of  repair  and  correction  will  diminish  in  equal  proportion, 
from  the  poverty  occasioned  by  the  evil,  and  by  the  fearful  extent 
which  it  will  be  allowed  to  attain.  However,  several  grand  water- 
companies  have  been  lately  formed,  who  are  to  dig  Artesian  wells, 
finish  canals,  navigate  rivers  with  steamers,  $nd  issue  shares  at 
a  premium,  which  will  be  effected  if  nothing  else  is. 

The  rivers  which  are  really  adapted  to  navigation  are,  however, 
only  those  which  are  perpetually  fed  by  those  tributary  streams 


SPANISH  BRIDGES.  25 

that  flow  down  from  mountains  which  are  covered  with  snow 
all  the  year,  and  these  are  not  many.  The  majority  of  Spanish 
rivers  are  very  scanty  of  water  during  the  summer  time,  and 
very  rapid  in  their  flow  when  filled  by  rains  or  melting  snow : 
during  these  periods  they  are  impracticable  for  boats.  The) 
are,  moreover,  much  exhausted  by  being  drained  off,  sangrado— 
that  is,  bled,  for  the  purposes  of  artificial  irrigation ;  thus,  a' 
Madrid  and  Valencia,  the  wide  beds  of  the  Manzana-es  am 
the  Tuna  are  frequently  dry  as  the  sands  of  the  seashore  when 
the  tide  is  out.  They  seem  only  to  be  entitled  to  be  called  rivers 
by  courtesy,  because  they  have  so  many  and  such  splendid 
bridges ;  as  numerous  are  the  jokes  cut  by  the  newly-arrived 
stranger,  who  advises  the  townsfolk  to  sell  one  of  them  to  pur- 
chase water,  or  compares  their  thirsting  arches  to  the  rich  man  in 
torments,  who  prays  for  one  drop  ;  but  a  heavy  rain  in  the  moun- 
tains, soon  shows  the  necessity  for  their  strength  and  length,  for 
their  wide  and  lofty,  arches,  their  buttress-like  piers,  which  be- 
fore had  appeared  to  be  rather  the  freaks  of  architectural  mag- 
nificence than  the  works  of  public  utility.  Those  who  live  in  a 
comparatively  level  country  can  scarcely  form  an  idea  of  the 
rapidity  and  fearful  destruction  of  the  river  inundations  in  this 
land  of  mountains.  The  deluge  rolls  forth  in  an  avalanche,  the 
rising  water  coming  down  tier  above  tier  like  a  flight  of  steps 
let  loose.  These  tides  carry  everything  before  them — scarring 
and  gullying  up  the  earth,  tearing  down  rocks,  trees,  and  houses, 
and  strewing  far  and  wide  the  relics  of  ruin  ;  but  the  fierce  fury 
is  short-lived,  and  is  spent  in  its  own  violence ;  thus  the  traveller 
at  Madrid,  if  he  wishes  to  see  its  Thames,  should  run  down  or 
take  the  'bus  as  he  can,  when  it  rains,  or  the  river  will  be  gone 
before  he  gets  there.  When  the  Spaniards,  under  those  block- 
heads Blake  and  Cuesta,  lost  the  battle  of  Rio  Seco,  which  gave 
Madrid  to  Buonaparte,  the  French  soldiers,  in  crossing  the  dry 
river  bed  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  exclaimed — "  Why,  Spanish 
rivers  run  away  too !" 

Many  of  these  beds  serve  in  remote  districts,  where  highways 
and  bridges  are  thought  to  be  superfluous  luxuries,  for  the  double 
purposes  of  a  river  when  there  is  water  in  them,  and  as  a  road 
when  there  is  not.  Again,  in  this  land  of  anomalies,  some 

PART  T.  •  3 


26  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

streams  have  no  bridges,  while  other  bridges  have  no  streams ; 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  ponies  asinorum  is  at  Coria,  where 
the  Alagon  is  crossed  at  an  inconvenient,  and  often  dangerous 
ferry,  while  a  noble  bridge  of  five  arches  stands  high  and  dry  in 
the  meadows  close  by.  This  has  arisen  from  the  river  having 
quitted  its  old  channel  in  some  inundation  ;  or,  as  Spaniards  say, 
salido  de  su  madre,  gone  out  from  its  mother,  who  does  not  seem 
to  know  that  it  is  out,  or  certainly  does  not  care,  since  no  steps 
have  ever  been  taken  by  the  Corians  to  coax  it  back  again  under 
its  old  arches  ;  they  call  on  Hercules  to  turn  this  Alpheus,  and 
rely  in  the  meantime  on  their  proverb,  that  all  fickle,  unfaithful 
rivers  repent  and  return  to  their  legitimate  beds  after  a  thousand 
years,  for  nothing  is  hurried  in  Spain,  Despues  de  anos  mil,  vuelve 
el  rio  a  su  cubil.  On  the  fishing  in  these  wandering  streams  we 
shall  presently  say  something. 

The  navigation  of  Spanish  rivers  is  Oriental,  classical,  and  im- 
perfect ;  the  boats,  barges,  and  bargemen  carry  one  back  beyond 
the  mediaeval  ages,  and  are  better  calculated  for  artistical  than 
commercial  purposes.  The  "  great  river,"  the  Guadalquivir, 
which  was  navigable  in  the  time  of  the  Romans  as  far  as  Cor- 
dova, is  now  scarcely  practicable  for  sailing-vessels  of  a  mode- 
rate size  even  up  to  Seville.  Passengers,  however,  have  facilities 
afforded  them  by  the  steamers  which  run  backwards  and  for- 
wards between  this  capital  and  Cadiz  ;  these  conveniences,  it 
need  not  be  said,  were  introduced  from  England,  although  the 
first  steamer  that  ever  paddled  in  waters  was  of  Spanish  inven- 
tion, and  was  launched  at  Barcelona  in  1543  ;  but  the  Spanish 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  of  the  time  was  a  poor  red  tapist, 
and  opposed  the  whole  thing,  which,  as  usual,  fell  to  the  ground. 
The  steamers  on  the  Guadalquivir  are  safe  ;  indeed,  in  our  times, 
the  advertisements  always  stated  that  a  mass  was  said  before 
starting  in  the  heretical  contrivance,  just  as  to  this  day  Birming- 
ham locomotives,  when  a  railway  is  first  opened  in  France,  *are 
sprinkled  with  holy  water,  and  blessed  by  a  bishop,  which  may  be 
a  new  "  wrinkle"  to  Mr.  Hudson  and  the  primate  of  York. 

There  is  considerable  talk  in  Arragon  about  rendering  the 
Ebro  navigable,  and  it  has  been  surveyed  this  year,  by  two  en- 
gineers— English  of  course.  The  local  newspapers  compared 


THE   TAGUS.  27 


the  astonishment  of  the  herns  and  peasantry,  created  on  the  banks 
by  this  arrival,  as  second  only  to  that  occasioned  when  Don 
Quixote  and  Sancho  ventured  near  the  same  spot  into  the  en- 
chanted bark. 

Tl^ere  has  been  still  older  and  greater  talk  about  establishing 
a  water  communication  between  Lisbon  and  Toledo,  by  means  of 
the  Tagus.  This  mighty  river,  which  is  in  every  body's  mouth, 
because  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Port  wine  is  placed  at  its 
embouchure,  is  in  fact  almost  as  little  known  in  Spain  and  out 
of  it,  as  the  Niger.  It  has  been  our  fate  to  behold  it  in  many 
places  and  various  phases  of  its  most  poetical  and  picturesque 
course — first  green  and  arrowy  amid  the  yellow  cornfields  of 
New  Castile  ;  then  freshening  the  sweet  Tempe  of  Aranjuez, 
clothing  the  gardens  with  verdure,  and  filling  the  nightingale- 
tenanted  glens  with  groves ;  then  boiling  and  rushing  around 
the  granite  ravines  of  rock-built  Toledo,  hurrying  to  escape  from 
the  cold  shadows  of  its  deep  prison,  and  dashing  joyously  into 
light  and  liberty,  to  wander  far  away  into  silent  plains,  and  on 
toxTalavera,  where  its  waters  were  dyed  with  brave  blood,  and 
gladly  reflected  the  flash  of  the  victorious  bayonets  of  England, 
— triumphantly  it  rolls  thence,  under  the  shattered  arches  of 
Almaraz,  down  to  desolate  Estremadura,  in  a  stream  as  tranquil 
as  the  azure  sky  by  which  it  is  curtained,  yet  powerful  enough  to 
force  the  mountains  at  Alcantara.  There  the  bridge  of  Trajan 
is  worth  going  a  hundred  miles  to  see  ;  it  stems  the  now  fierce 
condensed  stream,  and  ties  the  rocky  gorges  together ;  grand, 
simple,  and  solid,  tinted  by  the  tender  colors  of  seventeen  centu- 
ries, it  looms  like  the  grey  skeleton  of  Roman  power,  with  all  the 
sentiment  of  loneliness,  magnitude,  and  the  interest  of  the  past  and 
present.  Such  are  the  glorious  scenes  we  have  beheld  and  sketch- 
ed ;  such  are  the  sweet  waters  in  which  we  have  refreshed  our 
dusty  and  weary  limbs. 

How  stern,  solemn,  and  striking  is  this  Tagus  of  Spain  !  No 
commerce  has  ever  made  it  its  highway — no  English  steamer  has 
ever  civilized  its  waters  like  those  of  France  and  Germany.  Its 
rocks  have  witnessed  battles,  not  peace  ;  have  reflected  castles 
and  dungeons,  not  quays  or  warehouses  :  few  cities  have  risen  on 
its  banks,  as  on  those  of  the  Thames  and  Rhine  ;  it  is  truly  a 


28  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

river  of  Spain — that  isolated  and  solitary  land.  Its  waters  are 
without  boats,  its  banks  without  life  ;  man  has  never  laid  his  hand 
upon  its  billows,  nor  enslaved  their  free  and  independent  gambols. 
It  is  impossible  to  read  Tom  Campbell's  admirable  description 
of  the  Danube  before  its  poetry  was  discharged  by  the  smoke  of 
our  ubiquitous  countrymen's  Dampf  Schiff,  without  applying  his 
lines  to  this  uncivilized  Tagus  : — 

"  Yet  have  I  loved  thy  wild  abode, 

Unknown,  unploughed,  untrodden  shore, 
Where  scarce  the  woodman  finds  a  road, 

And  scarce  the  fisher  plies  an  oar ; 
For  man's  neglect  I  love  thee  more, 

That  art  nor  avarice  intrude 
To  tame  thy  torrent's  thunder  shock, 
Or  prune  the  vintage  of  thy  rock, 
Magnificently  rude !" 

As  rivers  in  a  state  of  nature  are  somewhat  scarce  in  Great 
Britain,  one  more  extract  may  be  perhaps  pardoned,  and  the  more 
as  it  tends  to  illustrate  Spanish  character,  and  explain  las  cosas  de 
Espana,  or  the  things  of  Spain,  which  it  is  the  object  of  these  hum- 
ble pages  to  accomplish. 

The  Tagus  rises  in  that  extraordinary  jumble  of  mountains, 
full  of  fossil  bories;  totany,  and  trout,  that  rise  between  Cuenca 
and  Tefuel,  and  •  which  being  all  but  unknown,  clamor  loudly  for 
the  disciples  of  Isaac  Walton  and  Dr.  Buckland.  It  disembogues 
into  the  sea  at  Lisbon,  having  flowed  375  miles  in  Spain,  of  which 
nature  destined  it  to  be  the  aorta.  The  Toledan  chroniclers 
derive  the  name  from  Tagus,  fifth  king  of  Iberia,  but  Bochart 
traces  it  to  Dag,  Dagon,  a  fish,  as  besides  being  considered  au- 
riferous, the  ancients  pronounced  it  to  be  piscatory.  Not  that 
the  present  Spaniards  trouble  their  head  more  about  the  fishes 
here  than  if  they  were  crocodiles.  Grains  of  gold  are  indeed 
fou'nd,  but  barely  enough  to  support  a  poet,  by  amphibious  pau- 
pers, called  artesilleros  from  their  baskets,  in  which  they  collect 
the  sand,  which  is  passed  through  a  sieve. 

The  Tagus  might  easily  be  made  navigable  to  the  sea,  and 
then  with  the  Xararria  connect  Madrid  and  Lisbon,  and  facilitate 
importation  of  colonial  produce,  and  exportation  of  wine  and 


NAVIGATION   OP   THE  TAGUS.  29 

grain.  Such  an  act  would  confer  more  benefits  upon  Spain  than 
ten  thousand  charters  or  paper  constitutions,  guaranteed  by -the 
sword  of  Narvaez,  or  the  word  and  honor  of  Louis-Philippe. 
The  performance  has  been  contemplated  by  many  foreigners,  the 
Toledans  looking  lazily  on;  thus  in  1581,  Antonelli,  a  Neapo- 
litan, and  Juanelo  Turriano,  a  Milanese,  suggested  the  scheme 
to  Philip  II.,  then  master  of  Portugal  j  but  money  was  wanting 
— the  old  story — for  his  revenues  were  wasted  in  relic-removing 
and  in  building  the  useless  Escorial,  and  nothing  was  made  except 
water  parties,  and  odes  to  the  "  wise  and  great  king"  who  was  to 
perform  the  deed,  to  the  tune  of  Macbeth's  witches,  "  Til  do, 
I'll  do,  Til  do,"  for  here  the  future  is  preferred  to  the  present 
tense.  The  project  dozed  until  1641,  when  two  other  foreigners, 
Julio  Martelli  and  Luigi  Carduchi,  in  vain  roused  Philip  IV. 
from  his  siesta,  who  soon  after  losing  Portugal  itself,  forthwith 
forgot  the  Tagus.  Another  century  glided  away,  when  in  1755 
Richard  Wall,  an  Irishman,  took  the  thing  up ;  but  Charles  III., 
busy  in  waging  French  wars  against  England,  wanted  cash. 
The  Tagus  has  ever  since,  as  it  roared  over  its  rocky  bed,  like  an 
unbroken  barb,  laughed  at  the  Toledan  who  dreamily  angles  for 
impossibilities  on  the  bank,  invoking  Brunei,  Hercules,  and 
Rothschild,  instead  of  putting  his  own  shoulder  to  the  water- 
wheel.  In  1808  the  scheme  was  revived:  Fro-  Xavier  'de  Ca-' 
banas,  who  had  studied  in  England  our  system  of  canals,  pub- 
lished a  survey  of  the  whole  river ;  this  folio  l  Memoria  sobre  la 
Namgacion  del  Tajo,'  or,  <  Memoir  on  the  Navigation  of  the 
Tagus/  Madrid,  1829,  reads  like  the  blue  book  of  one  dis- 
covering the  source  of  the  Nile,  so  desert-like  are  the  unpeopled, 
uncultivated  districts  between  Toledo  and  Abrantes.  Ferd.  VII. 
thereupon  issued  an  approving  paper  decree,  and  so  there  the  thing 
ended,  although  Cabanas  had  engaged  with  Messrs.  Wallis  and 
Mason  for  the  machinery,  &cv  Recently  the  project  has  been  re- 
newed by  Senor  Bermudez  de  Castro,  an  intelligent  gentleman, 
who,  from  long  residence  in  England,  has  imbibed  the  schemes 
and  energy  of  the  foreigner.  Veremos  !  "  we  shall  see  ;"  for  hope 
is  a  good  breakfast  but  a  bad  supper,  says  Bacon ;  and  in  Spain 
tilings  are  begun  late  in  the  day,  and  never  finished  ;  so  at  least 
says  the  proverb  : — En  Espana  se  empieza  tarde,  y  se  acaba  nunca. 


30  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

• 

Divisions  into  Provinces — Ancient  Demarcations — Modern  Departments- 
Population — Revenue — Spanish  Stocks. 

IN  the  divisions  of  the  Peninsula  which  are  effected  by  moun- 
tains, rivers,  and  climate,  a  leading  principle  is  to  be  traced, 
throughout,  for  it  is  laid  down  by  the  unerring  hand  of  nature. 
The  artificial,  political,  and  conventional  arrangement  into  king- 
doms and  provinces  is  entirely  the  work  of  accident  and  absence 
of  design. 

These  provincial  divisions  were  formed  by  the  gradual  union 
of <many  smaller  and  previously  independent  portions,  which  have 
been  taken  into  Spain  as  a  whole,  just  as  our  inconvenient  coun- 
ties constitute  the  kingdom  of  England ;  for  the  inconveniences 
of  these  results  of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  different  tides  in  the 
affairs  of  man's  dominion — these  boundaries  not  fixed  by  the  lines 
and  rules  of  theodolite-armed  land  surveyors,  use  had  provided 
remedies,  and  long  habit  had  reconciled  the  inhabitants  to  divis- 
ions which  suited  them  better  than  any  new  arrangement,  how- 
ever scientifically  calculated,  according  to  statistical  and  geo- 
graphical principles. 

The  French  during  their  intrusive  rule,  were  horrified  at  this 
"  chaos  administratif,"  this  apparent  irregularity,  and  introduced 
their  own  system  of  d&partemente,  by  which  districts  were  neatly 
squared  out  and  people  re-arranged,  as  if  Spain  were  a  chess- 
board and  Spaniards  mere  pawns — peones,  or  footmen,  which  this 
people,  calling  itself  one  of  cabatteros,  that  is  riders  on  horses  par 
excellence,  assuredly  is  not :  nor,  indeed,  in  this  paradise  of  the 
church  militant,  can  the  moves  of  any  Spanish  bishop  or  knight 
be  calculated  on  with  mathematical  certainty,  since  they  seldom 
will  take  the  steps  to-morrow  which  they  did  yesterday. 

Accordingly,  however  specious  the  theory,  it  was  found  to  be 


PROVINCES.  31 

no  easy  matter  to  early  departementalization  out  in  practice  :  indi- 
viduality laughs  at  the  solemn  nonsense  of  in-door  pedants,  who 
would  class  men  like  ferns  or  shells.  The  failure  in  this  attempt 
to  remodel  ancient  demarcations  and  recombine  antipathetic  popu- 
lations was  utter  and  complete.  No  sooner,  therefore,  had  the 
Duke  cleared  the  Peninsula  of  doctrinaires  and  invaders  than  the 
Lion  of  Castile  shook  off  their  papers  from  his  mane,  and  reverted 
like  the  Italian,  on  whom  the  same  experiment  was  tried,  to  his 
own  pre-existing  divisions,  which,  however  defective  in  theory, 
and  unsightly  and  inconvenient  on  the  map,  had  from  long  habit 
been  found  practically  to  suit  better.  Recently,  in  spite  of  this 
experience  among  other  newfangled  transpyrenean  reforms,  inno- 
vations, and  botherations,  the  Peninsula  has  again  been  parcelled 
out  into  forty-nine  provinces,  instead  of  the  former  national  divis- 
ions of  thirteen  kingdoms,  principalities,  and  lordships ;  but  long 
will  it  be  before  these  deeply  impressed  divisions,  which  have 
grown  with  the  growth  of  the  monarchy,  and  are  engraved  in  the 
retentive  memories  of  the  people,  can  be  effaced. 

Those  who  are  curious  in  statistical  details  are  referred  to  the 
works  of  Paez,  Antillon,  and  others,  who  are  considered  by  Span- 
iards to  be  authorities  on  vast  subjects,  which  are  fitter  for  a  gaz- 
etteer or  a  handbook  than  for  volumes  destined  like  these  for 
lighter  reading  ;  and  assuredly  the  pages  of  the  respectable  Span- 
iards just  named  are  duller  than  the  high-roads  of  Castile,  which 
no  tiny  rivulet  the  cheerful  companion  of  the  dusty  road  ever 
freshens,  no  stray  flower  adorns,  no  song  of  birds  gladdens — "dry 
as' the  remainder  of  the  biscuit  after  the  voyage." 

The  thirteen  divisions  have  grand  and  historical  names ;  they 
belong  to  an  old  and  monarchical  country,  not  to  a  spick  and  span 
vulgar  democracy,  without  title-deeds.  They  fill  the  mouth  when 
named,  and  conjure  up  a  thousand  recollections  of  the  better  and 
more  glorious  times  of  Spain's  palmy  power,  when  there  were 
giants  in  the  land,  not  pigmies  in  Parisian  paletots,  whose  only 
ambition  is  to  ape  the  foreigner,  and  disgrace  and  denationalize 
themselves. 

I  First  and  foremost  Anddlucia  presents  herself,  crowned  with  a 
quadruple,  not  a  triple  tiara,  for  the  name  los  cuatro  reinos,  "  the 
four  kingdoms,"  is  her  synonym.  They  consist  of  those  of  Se- 


32  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

ville,  Cordova,  Jaen,  and  Granada.  There  is  magic  and  birdlime 
in  the  very  letters.  Secondly  advances  the  kingdom  of  Murcia, 
with  its  silver-miners,  barilla  and  palms.  Then  the  gentle  king- 
dom of  Valencia  appears,  all  smiles,  with  fruits  and  silk.  The 
principality  of  grim  and  truculent  Catalonia  scowls  next  on  its 
fair  neighbor.  Here  rises  the  smoky  factory  chimney;  here 
cotton  is  spun,  vice  and  discontent  bred,  and  revolutions  con- 
cocted. The  proud  and  stiff-necked  kingdom  of  Arragon  marches 
to  the  west  with  this  Lancashire  of  Spain,  and  to  the  east  vvit/i 
the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  which  crouches  with  its  green  valleys 
under  the  Pyrenees.  The  three  Basque  Provinces  which  abut 
thereto,  are  only  called  El  Senorio,  "  The  Lordship,"  for  the 
king  of  alKthe  Spains  is  but  simple  lord  of  this  free  highland 
home  of  the  unconquered  descendants  of  the  aboriginal  man  of 
the  Peninsula.  Here  there  is  much  talk  of  bullocks  and^/weras, 
or  "privileges;"  for  when  not  digging  and  delving,  these  gentle- 
men by  the  mere  fact  of  being  born  herd,  are  fighting  and  up- 
holding their  good  rights  by  the  sword.  The  empire  province  of 
the  Castiles  furnishes  two  coronets  to  the  royal  brow  ;  to  wit.  that 
of  the  older  portion,  where  the  young  monarchy  was  nursed,  and 
that  of  the  newer  portion,  which  was  wrested  afterwards  from  the 
infidel  Moor.  The  ninth  division  is  desolate  Estremadura,  which 
has  no  higher  title  than  a  province,  and  is  peopled  by  locusts, 
wandering  sheep,  pigs,  and  here  and  there  by  human  bipeds. 
Leon,  a  most  time-honored  kingdom,  stretches  higher  up,  with  its 
corn-plains  and  venerable  cities,  now  silent  as  tombs,  but  in  auld 
lang  syne  the  scenes  of  mediaeval  chivalry  and  romance.  The 
kingdom  of  Gojlicia  and  the  principality  of  the  Asturias  form  the 
seaboard  to  the  west,  and  constitute  Spain's  breakwater  against 
the  Atlantic. 

It  is  not  very  easy  to  ascertain  the  exact  population  of  any 
country,  much  less  that  of  one  which  does  not  yet  possess  the 
advantages  of  public  registrars ;  the  people  at  large,  for  whom, 
strange  to  say,  the  pleasant  studies  of  statistical  and  political 
economy  have  small  charms,  consider  any  attempt  to  number 
them  as  boding  no  good ;  they  have  a  well-grounded  apprehension 
of  ulterior  objects.  To  "  number  the  people  "  was  a  crime  in 
the  East,  and  many  moral  and  practical  difficulties  exist  in  arri- 


POPULATION.  33 


ving  at  a  true  census  of  Spain.  Thus,  while  some  writers  on 
statistics  hope  to  flatter  the  powers  that  be,  by  a  glowing  exagger- 
ation of  national  strength,  "  to  boast  of  which,"  says  the  Duke, 
"  is  the  national  weakness,"  the  suspicious  many,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  disposed  to  conceal  and  diminish  the  truth.  We  should 
be  always  on  our  guard  when  we  hear  accounts  of  the  past  or 
present  population,  commerce,  or  revenue  of  Spain.  The  better 
classes  will  magnify  them  both,  for  the  credit  of  their  country; 
the  poorer,  on  the  other  hand,  will  appeal  ad  misericordiam,  by 
representing  matters  as  even  worse  than  they  really  are.  They 
never  afford  any  opening,  however  indirect,  to  information  which 
may  lead  to  poll-taxes  and  conscriptions. 

The  population  and  the  revenue  have  generally  been  exagge- 
rated, and  all  statements  may  be  much  discounted;  the  present 
population,  at  an  approximate  calculation,  may  be  taken  at  about 
eleven  or  twelve  millions,  with  a  slow  tendency  to  increase. 
This  is  a  low  figure  for  so  large  a  country,  and  for  one  which, 
under  the  Romans,  is  said  to  have  swarmed  with  inhabitants  as 
busy  and  industrious  as  ants  ;  indeed,  the  longest  period  of  rest 
and  settled  government  which  this  ill-fated  land  has  ever  en- 
joyed was  during  the  three  centuries  that  the  Roman  power  was 
undisputed.  The  Peninsula  is  then  seldom  mentioned  by  au- 
thors ;  and  how  much  happiness  is  inferred  by  that  silence,  when 
the  blood-spattered  page  of  history  was  chiefly  employed  to  regis- 
ter great  calamities,  plagues,  pestilences,  wars,  battles,  or  the 
freaks  of  men,  at  which  angels  weep !  Certainly  one  of  the 
causes  which  have  changed  this  happy  state  of  things,  has  been 
the  numerous  and  fierce  invasions  to  which  Spain  has  been  ex- 
posed ;  fatal  to  her  has  been  her  gift  of  beauty  and  wealth,  which 
has  ever  attracted  the  foreign  ravisher  and  spoiler.  The  Goths, 
to  whom  a  worse  name  has  been  given  than  they  deserved  in 
Spain,  were  ousted  by  the  Moors,  the  real  and  wholesale  destroy- 
ers ;  bringing  to  the  darkling  West  the  luxuries,  arts  and  sci- 
ences of  the  bright  East,  they*  had  nothing  to  learn  from  the  con- 
quered ;  to  them  the  Goth  was  no  instructor,  as  the  Roman  had 
been  to  him ;  they  despised  both  of  their  predecessors,  with 
whose  wants  and  works  they  had  no  sympathy,  while  they  ab- 
horred their  creed  as  idolatrous  and  polytheistic — down  went  al- 


34  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


tar  and  image.  There  was  no  fair  town  which  they  did  not' des- 
troy ;  they  exterminated,  say  their  annuls,  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

The  Gotho-Spaniard  in  process  of  time  retaliated,  and  com- 
bated  the  invader  with  his  own  weapons,  bettering  indeed  the 
destructive  lesson  which  was  taught.  The  effects  of  these  wars, 
carried  on  without  treaty,  without  quarter,  and  waged  for  coun- 
try and  creed,  are  evident  in  those  parts  of  Spain  which  were 
their  theatre.  Thus,  vast  portions  of  Estremaclura,  the  south  of 
Toledo  and  Andalucia,  by  nature  some  of  the  richest  and  most 
fertile  in  the  world,  are  now  dehesas  y  despoblados,  depopulated 
wastes,  abandoned  to  the  wild  bee  for  his  heritage ;  the  country 
remains  as  it  was  left  after  the  discomfiture  of  the  Moor.  The 
early  chronicles  of  both  Spaniard  and  Moslem  teem  with  accounts 
of  the  annual  forays  inflicted  on  each  other,  and  to  which  a  fron- 
tier-district was  always  exposed.  The  object  of  these  border 
guerrilla-warfares  was  extinction,  talar,  quemar  y  robar,  to  deso- 
late, burn,  and  rob,  to  cut  down  fruit-trees,  to  "  harry,"  to  "  raz- 
zia."* The  internecine  struggle  was  that  of  rival  nations  and 
creeds.  It  was  truly  Oriental,  and  such  as  Ezekiel,  who  well  knew 
the  Phoenicians,  has  described  :  "  Go  ye  after  him  through  the  city 
and  smite  ;  let  not  your  eye  have  pity,  neither  have  ye  pity ;  slay 
utterly  old  and' young,  both  maids  and  little  children  and  women." 
The  religious  duty  of  smiting  the  infidel  precluded  mercy  on  both 
sides  aHke,  for  the  Christian  foray  and  crusade  was  the  exact  coun- 
terpart of  the  Moslem  algara  and  algihad  ;  while,  from  military 
reason's,  everything  was  turned  into  a  desert,  in  order  to  create  a 
frontier  lijdom  of  starvation,  a  defensive  glacis,  through  which  no 
invading  army  could  pass  and  live  ;  the  u  beasts  of  the  field  alone 
increased."  Nature,  thus  abandoned,  resumed  her  rights,  and 
has'  cast  off  every  trace  of  former  cultivation  ;  and  districts  the 
granaries  of  the  Roman  and  the  Moor,  now  offer  the  saddest  con- 
trasts to  that  former  prosperity  and  industry. 

To  these  horrors  succeeded  the  thinning  occasioned  by  causes 
of  a  bigoted  and  political  nature  :  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews 

*  Razzia  is  derived  from  the  Arabic  Al  ghazia,  a  word  which  expresses 
these  raids  of  a  ferocious,  barbarous  age.  It  has  been  introduced  to  Eu- 
ropean dictionaries  by  the  Pelissiers,  who  thus  civilize  Algeria.  They  mak« 
a  solitude,  and  call  it  peace. 


BUONAPARTE'S  INVASION. 


deprived  poor  Spain  of  her  bankers,  while  the  final  banishment 
of  the  Moriscoes,  the  remnant  of  the  Moors,  robbed  the  soil  of  its 
best  and  most  industrious  agriculturists. 

Again,  in  our  time,  have  the  fatal  scenes  of  contending  Chris- 
tian and  Moor  been  renewed  in  the  struggle  for  national  independ- 
ence, waged  by  Spaniards  against  the  Buonapartist  invaders,  by 
whom  neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared — neither  things  sacred  nor 
profane  ;  the  land  is  everywhere  scarred  with  ruins ;  a  few  hours' 
Vandalism  sufficed  to  undo  the  works  of  ages  of  piety,  wealth, 
learning  and  good  taste.  The  French  retreat  was  worse  than 
their  advance :  then,  infuriated  by  disgrace  and  disaster,  the 
Soults  and  Massenas  vented  their  spite  oh  the  unarmed  villagers 
and  their  cottages.  But  let  General  Foy  describe  their  progress : 
— "  Ainsi  que  la  neige  precipitee  des  sommets  des  Alpes  dans  les 
vallons,  nos  armees  innombrables  detruisaient  en  quelques  heures, 
par  leur  seul  passage,  les  ressources  de  toute  une  contree  ;  elles 
-  bivouaquaient  habituellement,  et  a  chaque  gite  nos  soldats  demo- 
lissaient  les  maisons  baties  depuis  un  demi-siecle,  pour  construire 
avec  les  decombres  ces  longs  villages  alignes  qui  souvent  ne 
devaient  durer  qu'un  jour  :  au  defaut  du  bois  des  forets  les  arbres 
fruitiers,  les  vegetaux  precieux,  comme  le  murier,  1'olivier, 
1'oranger,  servaient  a  les  rechauffer  j  les  consents  Irrites  a  la 
fois  par  le  besoin  et  par  le  danger  contractaient  une  ivresse  morale 
dont  nous  ne  cherchions  pas  a  les  guerir." 

I"  So  France  gets  drunk  with  blood  to  vomit  crime, 
And  fatal  ever  have  her  saturnalia  been." 
Who  can  fail  to  compare  this  habitual  practice  of  Buonaparte's 
legions  with  the  terrible  description  in  Hosea  of  the  u  great  people 
and  strong"  who  execute  the  dread  judgments  :>f  heaven? — "A 
fire  devoureth  before  them,  and  behind  them   a  flame  burneth  ; 
the  land  is  the  garden  of  Eden  before  them,  and  behind  them  a 
desolate  wilderness,  yea,  and  nothing  shall  escape  them." 

No  sooner  were  they  beaten  out  by  the  Duke,  than  population 
began  to  spring  up  again,  as  the  bruised  flowrets  do  when  the 
iron  heej  of  marching  hordes  has  passed  on.  Then  ensued  the 
civil  fratricide  wars,  draining  the  land  of  its  males,  from  which 
bleeding  Spain  has  not  yet  recovered.  Insecurity  of  property 


36  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

and  person  will  ever  prove  bars  to  marriage  and  increased  popu- 
lation. 

Again,  a  deeper  and  more  permanent  curse  has  steadily  oper-  x 
ated  for  the  last  two  centuries,  at  which  Spanish  authors  long 
have  not  dared  to  hint.  They  have  ascribed  the  depopulation  of 
Estremadura  to  the  swarm  of  colonist  adventurers  and  emigrants 
who  departed  from  this  province  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro  to  seek 
for  fortune  in  the  new  world  of  gold  and  silver ;  and  have  attrib- 
uted the  similar  want  of  inhabitants  in  Andalucia  to  the -similar 
outpouring  from  Cadiz,  which,  with  Seville,  engrossed  the  traffic 
of  the  Americas.  But  colonization  never  thins  a  vigorous,  well- 
conditioned  mother  state — witness  the  rapid  and  daily  increase  of 
population  in  our  own  island,  which,  like  Tyre  of  old,  is  ever 
sending  forth  her  outpouring  myriads,  and  wafts  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea,  on  the  white  wings  of  her  merchant  fleets,  the 
blessings  of  peace,  religion,  liberty,  order,  and  civilization,  to  dis- 
seminate which  is  the  mission  of  Great  Britain. 

The  real  permanent  and  standing  cause  of  Spain's  thinly  peo- 
pled state,  want  of  cultivation,  and  abomination  of  desolation,  is 
BAD  GOVERNMENT,  "civil  and  religious;  this  all  who  run  may 
read  in  her  lonely  land  and  silent  towns.  But  Spain,  if  the  anecdote 
which  her  children  love  to  tell  be  true,  will  never  be  able  to  re- 
move the  incubus  of  this  fertile  origin  of  every  evil.  WhenvFet- 
dinand  III.  captured  Seville  and  died,  being  a  saint  he  escaped 
purgatory,  and  Santiago  presented  him  to  the  Virgin,  who  forth- 
with desired  him  to  ask  any  favors  for  beloved  Spain.  The  mon- 
arch petitioned  for  oil,  wine,  and  corn — conceded  ;  for  sunny 
skies,  brave  men,  and  pretty  women — allowed  ;  for  cigars,  relics, 
garlic,  and  bulls — by  all  means  ;  for  a  good  government — "  Nay, 
nay,"  said  the  Virgin,  "  that  never  can  be  granted  ;  for  were  it 
bestowed,  not  an  angel  would  remain  a  day  longer  in  heaven."  , 
The  present  revenue  may  be  taken  at  about  12,000,OOOZ.  or 
13,000.0007.  sterling  ;  but  money  is  compared  by  Spaniards  to 
oil ;  a  little  will  stick  to  the  fingers  of  those  who  measure  it  out ; 
and  such  is  the  robbing  and  jobbing,  the  official  mystification  and 
peculation,  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  at  facts  whenever  ca||i  is  in 
question.  The  revenue,  moreover,  is  badly  collected,  and  at  a 
ruinous  per  centage,  and  at  no  time  during  this  last  century  has 


THE  BOLSA.  37 

been  sufficient  for  the  national  expenses.  Recourse  has  been  had 
to  the  desperate  experiments  of  usurious  loans  and  wholesale  con- 
fiscations. At  one  time  church  pillage  and  appropriation  was  al- 
most the  only  item  in  the  governmental  budget.  The  recipients 
were  ready  to  "  prove  from  Vatel  exceedingly  well"  that  the  first 
duty  of  a  rich  clergy  was  to  relieve  the  necessitous,  and  the  more 
when  the  State  was  a  pauper ;  croziers  are  no  match  for  bayonets. 
This  system  necessarily  cannot  last.  Since  the  reign  of  Philip 
II.  every  act  of  dishonesty  has  been  perpetrated.  Public  securi- 
ties have  been  "  repudiated,"  interest  unpaid,  and  principal 
spunged  out.  No  country  in  the  Old  World,  or  even  New  drab- 
coated  World,  stands  lower  in  financial  discredit.  Let  all  be 
aware  how  they  embark  in  Spanish  speculations :  however  pro- 
mising in  the  prospectus,  they  will,  sooner  or  later,  turn  out  to  be 
deceptions  ;  and  whether  they  assume  the  form  of  loans,  lands,  or 
rails,  none  are  real  securities :  they  are  mere  castles  in  the  air, 
chateaux  en  Espagne :  "  The  earth  has  bubbles  as  the  water  has, 
and  these  are  of  them." 

For  the  benefit  and  information  of  those  who  have  purchased 
Iberian  stock,  it  may  be  stated  that  an  exchange,  or  Bolsa  de> 
,  Comercio,  was  established  at  Madrid  in  1831.  It  may  Be  called 
the  coldest  spot  in  the  hot  capital,  and  the  idlest,  since  the  usual 
"  city  article"  is  short  and  sweet,  "  sin  operaciones,"  or  nothing 
has  been  bought  or  sold.  It  might  be  likened  to  a  tomb,  with 
"  Here  lies  Spanish  credit"  for  its  epitaph.  If  there  be  a  thing 
which  "La perfide  Albion,"  "a  nation  of  shopkeepers,"  dislikes, 
%  worse  even  than  a  French  assignat,  it  is  a  bankrupt.  One  cir- 
cumstance is  clear,  that  Castilian  pundonor,  or  point  of  honor,  will 
rather  settle  its  debts  with  cold  iron  and  warm  abuse  than  with 
gold  and  thanks. 

The  Exchange  at  Madrid  was  first  held  at  St.  Martin's,  a  saint 
who  divided  his  cloak  with  a  supplicant.  As  comparisons  are 
odious,  and  bad  examples  catching,  it  has  been  recently  removed 
to  the  Calle  del  Desengano,  the  street  of  "  finding  out  fallacious 
hopes,"  a  locality  which  the  bitten  will  not  deem  ill-chosen. 

As  all  men  in  power  use  their  official  knowledge  in  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  turn  of  the  market,  the  Bolsa  divides  with  the  court 
and  army  the  moving  influence  of  every  situacion  or  crisis  of  the 


J8  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

moment :  clover  as  are  the  ministers  of  Paris,  they  aro  mere 
tyros  when  compared  to  their  colleagues  of  Madrid  in  the  arts  of 
working  the  telegraph,  gazette,  &c.,  and  thereby  feathering  their 
own  nests. 

The  Stock  Exchange  is  open  from  ten  to  three  o'clock,  where 
those  who  like  Spanish  funds  may  buy  them  as  cheap  as  stinking 
mackerel ;  for  when  the  3  per  cents,  of  perfidious  Albion  are  at, 
98,  surely  Spanish  fives  at  2*2  are  a  tempting  investment;  The 
stocks  are  numerous,  and  suited  to  all  tastes  and  pockets,  whether 
those  funded  by  Aguado,  Ardouin,  Toreno,  Mendizabal,  or  Mon, 
"all  honorable  men,"  and  whose -punctuality  is  un-r  emitting  y 
for  in  some  the  principal  is  consolidated,  in  others  the  interes. 
is  deferred  ;  the  grand  financial  object  in  all  having  been  to  re- 
ceive as  much  as  possible,  and  pay  back  in  an  inverse  ratio — 
their  leading  principle  being  to  bag  both  principal  and  interest. 
As  we  have  just  said,  in  measuring  out  money  and  oil  a  little 
will  stick  to  the  cleanest  fingers — the  Madrid  ministers  and  con- 
'tractors  made  fortunes,  and  actually  "did"  the  Hebrews  of  Lon- 
don, as  their  forefathers  spoiled  the  Egyptians.  But  from  Philip  II. 
downwards,  theologians  have  never  been  wanting  in  Spain  to 
prove  the  religious,  however  painful,  duty  of  bankruptcy,  and 
particularly  in  contracts  with  usurious  heretics.  The  stranger, 
when  shown  over  the  Madrid  bank,  had  better  evince  no  imperti- 
nent curiosity  to  see  the  "  Dividend  pay  office,"  as  it  might  give 
offence.  Whatever  be  our  dear  reader's  pursuit  in  the  Penin- 
,sula,  let  him — 

"  Neither  a  borrower  nor  lender  be; 
For  loan  oft  loseth  both  itself  and  friend/' 

Beware  of  Spanish  stock,  for  in  spite  of  official  reports,  docu- 
mentos,  and  arithmetical  mazes,  which,  intricate  as  an  arabesque 
pattern,  look  well  on  paper  without  being  intelligible  ;  in  spite 
of  ingenious  conversions,  fundings  of  interest,  coupons — some 
active,  some  passive,  and  other  repudiatory  terms  and  tenses,  the 
present  excepted — the  thimblerig  is  always  the  same  ;  and  this  is 
the  question,  since  national  credit  depends  on  national  good  faith 
and  surplus  income,  how  can  a  country  pay  interest  on  debts, 
whose  revenues  have  long  been,  and  now  are,  miserably  insuffi- 


PUBLIC   DEBT. 


cient  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  government  ?     You  cannot  get 
blood  from  a  stone  ;  ex  niliilo  nihilfit. 

Mr.  Macgregor's  report  on  Spain,  a  truthful  exposition  of 
commercial  ignorance,  habitual  disregard  of  treaties  and  viola- 
tion of  contracts,  describes  her  public  securities,  past  and  pres- 
ent. ,  Certainly  they  ha'd  very  imposing  names  and  titles — Juros 
Bonos,  Vales -reales,  Titulos,  &c., — much  more  royal,  grand,  and 
poetical  than  our  prosaic  Consols  ;  but  no  oaths  can  attach  real 
value  to  dishonored  and  good-for-nothing  paper.  According  to 
some  financiers,  the  public  debts  of  Spain,  previously  to  1808, 
amounted  to  83.763,9667.,  which  have  since  been  increased  to 
279,083,0897.,  farthings  omitted,  for  we  like  to  be  accurate.  This 
possibly  may  be  exaggerated,  for  the  government  will  give  no 
information  as  to  its  own  peculation  and  mismanagement :  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Henderson,  78,649,6757.  of  this  debt  is  due  t6 
English  creditors  alone,  and  we  wish  they  may  get  it,  when  he 
gets  to  Madrid.  In  the  time  of  James  I.,  Mr.  Howell  was  sent 
there  on  much  such  an  errand  ;  and  when  he  left  it,  his  "  pile  of 
unredressed  claims  was  higher  than  himself."  At  all  events, 
Spain  is  over  head  and  ears  in  debt,  and  irremediably  insolvent. . 
And  yet  few  countries,  if  we  regard  the  fertility  of  her  soil,  her 
golden  possessions  at  home  and  abroad,  her  frugal  temperate 
population,  ought  to  have  been  less  embarrassed  ;  but  Heaven  has 
granted  her  every  blessing,  except  a  good  and  honest  government. 
It  is  either  a  bully  or  a  craven  :  satisfaction  in  twenty-four  hours, 
a  la  Bresson,  or  a  line-of-battle  ship  off  Malaga — Cromwell's  re- 
ceipt— is  the  only  argument  which  these  semi-Moors  understand : 
conciliatory  language  is  held  to  be  weakness :  you  may  obtain  at 
once  from  their  fears  what  never  will  be  granted  by  their  sense 
of  justice. 


THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Travelling  in  Spain — Steamers — Roads,  Roman,  Monastic,  and   Royal- 
Modern  Railways — English  Speculations. 

OF  the  many  misrepresentations  regarding  Spain,  few  are  more 
inveterate  than  those  which  refer  to  the  dangers  and  difficulties 
that  are  there  supposed  to  beset  the  traveller.  This,  the  most 
romantic,  racy,  and  peculiar  country  of  Europe,  may  in  reality 
be  visited  by  sea  and  land,  and  throughout  its  length  and  breadth, 
with  ease  and  safety,  as  all  who  have  ever  been  there  well  know, 
the  nonsense  with  which  Cockney  critics  who  never  have  been 
there  scare  delicate  writers  in  albums  and  lady-bird  tourists,  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding-  the  steamers  are  regular,  the 
mails  and  diligences  excellent,  the  roads  decent,  and  the  mules 
sure-footed  ;  nay,  latterly,  the  posadas,  or  inns,  have  been  so  in- 
creased, and  the  robbers  so  decreased,  that  some  ingenuity  must 
be  evinced  in  getting  either  starved  or  robbed.  Those,  however, 
who  are  dying  for  new  excitements,  or  who  wish  to  make  a  pic- 
ture or  chapter,  in  short,  to  get  up  an  adventure  for  the  home- 
market,  may  manage  by  a  great  exhibition  of  imprudence,  chat- 
tering, and  a  holding  out  luring  baits,  to  gratify  their  hankering, 
although  it  would  save  some  time,  trouble,  and  expense  to  try  the 
experiment  much  nearer  home. 

As  our  readers  live  in  an  island,  we  will  commence  with  the 
sea  and  steamers. 

The  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Navigation  Company  depart  regu- 
larly three  times  a  month  from  Southampton  for  Gibraltar.  They 
often  arrive  at  Corunna  in  seventy  hours,  from  whence  a  mail 
starts  directly  to  Madrid,  which  it  reaches  in  three  days  and  a 
half.  The  vessels  are  excellent  sea-boats,  are  manned  by  Eng- 
lish sailors,  and  propelled  by  English  machinery.  The  passage 
to  Vigo  has  'been  made  in  less  than  three  days,  and  the  voyage 


STEAMERS.  41 


to  Cadiz — touching  at  Lisbon  included — seldom  exceeds  six. 
The  change  of  climate,  scenery,  men,  and  manners  effected  by 
this  week's  trip,  is  indeed  remarkable.  Quitting  the  British 
Channel  we  soon  enter  the  "  sleepless  Bay  of  Biscay,77  where 
the  stormy  petrel  is  at  home,  and  where  the  gigantic  swell  of  the 
Atlantic  is  first  checked  by  Spain's  iron-bound  coast,  the  moun- 
tain break-water  of  Europe.  Here  The  Ocean  will  be  seen  in 
all  its  vast  majesty  and  solitude  :  grand  in  the  tempest-lashed 
storm,  grand  in  the  calm,  when  spread  out  as  a  mirror  ;  and 
never  more  impressive  than  at  night,  when  the  stars  of  heaven, 
free  from  earth-born  mists,  sparkle  like  diamonds  over  those  "  who 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord, 
and  his  wonders  in  the  deep.77  The  land  has  disappeared,  and 
man  feels  alike  his  weakness  and  his  strength  •  a  thin  plank 
separates  him  from  another  world  ;  yet  he  has  laid  his  hand  upon 
the  billow,  and  mastered  the  ocean  ;  he  has  made  it  the  highway 
of  commerce,  and  the  binding  link  of  nations. 

The  steamers  which  navigate  the  Eastern  coast  from  Marseilles 
to  Cadiz  and  back  again,  are  cheaper  indeed  in  their  fares,  but 
by  no  means  such  good  sea-boats ;  nor  do  they  keep  their  time — 
the  essence  of  business — with  English  regularity.  They  are 
foreign  built,  and  worked  by  Spaniards  and  Frenchmen.  They 
generally  stop  a  day  at  Barcelona,  Valencia,  and  other  large 
towns,  which  gives  them  an  opportunity  to  replenish  coal,  and  to 
smuggle.  A  rapid  traveller  is  also  thus  enabled  to  pay  a  flying 
visit,  to  the  cities  on  the  seaboard ;  and  thus  those  lively  authors 
who  comprehend  foreign  nations  with  an  intuitive  eagle-eyed 
glance,  obtain  materials  for  sundry  octavos  on  the  history,  arts, 
sciences,  literature,  and  genius  of  Spaniards.  But  as  Mons. 
Feval  remarks  of  some  of  his  gifted  countrymen,  they  have  merely 
to  scratch  their  head,  according  to  the  Horatian  expression,  and 
out  come  a  number  of  volumes,  ready  bound  in  calf,  as  Minerva 
issued  forth  armed  from  the  temple  of  Jupiter. 

The  Mediterranean  is  a  dangerous,  deceitful  sea,  fair  and  false 
as  Italia  ;  the  squalls  are  sudden  and  terrific  ;  then  the  crews 
either  curse  the  sacred  name  of  God,  or  invoke  St.  Telmo,  ac- 
cording as  their  notion  rmay  be.  We  have  often  been  so  caught 
when  sailing  on  these  perfidious  waters  in  these  foreign  craft, 


42  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

and  think,  with  the  Spaniards,  that  escape  is  a  miracle.  The 
hilarity  excited  by  witnessing  the  jabber,  confusion,  and  lubber 
proceedings,  went  far  to  dispel  all  present  apprehension,  and 
future  also.  Some  of  our  poor  blue-jackets  in  case  of  a  war  may 
possibly  escape  the  fate  with  which  they  are  threatened  in  this' 
French  lake.  But  no  wise  man  will  ever  go  by  sea  when  he 
can  travel  by  land,  nor  is  viewing  Spain's  coasts  .with  a  telescope 
from  the  deck,  and  passing  a  few  hours  in  a  sea-oort,  a  very 
satisfactory  mode  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  country. 

The  roads  of  Spain,  a  matter  of  much  importance  to  a  judicious 
traveller,  are  somewhat  H  modern  luxury,  having  been  only 
regularly  introduced  by  the  Bourbons.  The  Moors  and  Span- 
iards, who  rode  on  horses  and  not  in  carriages,  suffered  those 
magnificent  lines  with  which  the  Romans  had  covered  the  Penin- 
sula to  go  to  decay  ;  of  these  there  were  no  less  than  twenty- 
nine  of  the  first  order,  which  were  absolutely  necessary  to  a  na- 
tion of  conquerors  and  colonists  to  keep  up  their  military  and 
commercial  communications.  The  grandest  of  all,  which  like 
the  Appian  might  be  termed  the  Queen  of  Roads,  ran  from 
Merida,  the  capital  of  Lusitania,  to  Salamanca.  It  was  laid 
down  like  a  Cyclopean  wall,  and  much  of  it  remains  to  this  day, 
with  the  grey  granite  line  stretching  across  the  aromatic  wastes, 
like  the  vertebrae  of  an  extinct  mammoth.  We  have  followed 
for  miles  its  course,  which  is  indicated  by  the  still  standing 
military  columns  that  rise  above  the  cistus  underwood ;  here  and 
there  tall  forest  trees  grow  out  of  the  stone  pavement,  and  show 
how  long  it  has  been  abandoned  by  man  to  Nature  ever  young 
and  gay,  who  thus  by  uprooting  and  displacing  the  huge  blocks 
slowly  recovers  her  rights.  She  festoons  the  ruins  with  neck- 
laces of  flowers  and  creepers,  and  hides  the  rents  and  wrinkles 
of  odious,  all-dilapidating  Time,  or  man's  worse  neglect,  as  a 
pretty  maid  decorates  a  shrivelled  dowager's  with  diamonds. 
The  Spanish  muleteer  creeps  along  by  its  side  in  a  track  which 
he  has  made  through  the  sand  or  pebbles  ;  he  seems  ashamed  to 
trample  on  this  lordly  way,  for  which,  in  his  petty  wants,  he  has  no 
occasion.  Most  of  the  similar  roads  have  been  taken  up  by  monks 
to  raise  convents,  by  burgesses  to  build  houses,  by  military  men 
to  construct  fortifications — thus  even  their  ruins  have  perished. 


LEGEND   OF   SANTO   DOMINGO.  43 

The  mediaeval  Spanish  roads  were  the  works  of  the  clergy  ; 
and  the  long-bearded  monks,  here  as  elsewhere,  were  the  pioneers 
of  civilization ;  they  made  straight,  wide,  and  easy  the  way 
'which  led  to  their  convent,  their  high  place,  their  miracle  shrine, 
or  to  whatever  point  of  pilgrimage  that  was  held  out  to  the  de- 
vout ;  traffic  was  soon  combined  with  devotion,  and  the  service 
of  mammon  with  that  of  God.  This  imitation  of  the  Oriental 
practice  which  obtained  at  Mecca,  is  evidenced  by  language  in 
which  the  Spanish  term  Feria  signifies  at  once  a  religious  func- 
tion, a  holiday,  and  a  fair.  Even  saints  condescended  to  become 
way  wardens,  and  to  take  title  from  the  highway.  Thus  Santo 
Domingo  de  la  Cahada,  "St.  Domenick  of  the  Paved  Road," 
was  so  called  from  his  having  been  the  first  to  make  one  through 
a  part  of  Old  Castile  for  the  benefit  of  pilgrims  on  their  way  to 
Compostella,  and  this  town  yet  bears  the  honored  appellation. 

This  feat  and  his  legend  have  furnished  Southey  with  a  sub- 
ject of  a  droll  ballad.  The  saint  having  finished  his  road,  next 
set  up  an  inn  or  Venta,  the  Maritornes  of  which  fell  in  love  with  a 
handsome  pilgrim,  who  resisted  ;  whereupon  she  hid  some  spoons 
in  this  Joseph's  saddlebags,  who  was  taken  up  by  the  Alcalde, 
Etnd  forthwith  hanged.  But  his  parents  some  time  afterwards 
passed  under  the  body,  which  told  them  that  he  was  innocent, 
alive,  and  well,  and  all  by  the  intercession  of  the  sainted  road- 
rnaker ;  thereupon  they  proceeded  forthwith  to  the  truculent  Al- 
calde, who  was  going  to  dine  off  two  roasted  fowls,  and,  on  hear- 
ing their  report,  remarked,  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  this 
cock  (pointing  to  his  roti)  would  crow  •  whereupon  it  did  crow, 
and  was  taken  with  its  hen  to  the  cathedral,  and  two  chicks  have 
ever  since  been  regularly  hatched  every  year  from  these  respect- 
able parents,  of  which  a  travelling  ornithologist  should  secure  one 
for  the  Zoological  Garden.  The  cock  and  hen  were  duly  kept 
riear  the  high  altar,  and  their  white  feathers  were  worn  by  pil- 
grims in  their  caps.  Prudent  bagsmen  will,  however,  put  a 
couple  of  ordinary  roast  fowls  into  their  "  provend,"  for  hungry 
is  this  said  road  to  Logrono. 

In  this  land  of  miracles,  anomalies,  and  contradictions,  the 
roads  to  and  from  this  very  Compostella  are  now  detestable.  In 
other  provinces  of  Spain,  the  star-paved  milky  way  in  heaven  is 


44  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

called  El  Camino  de  Santiago,  the  road  of  St.  James;  but  the 
•Gallicians,  who  know  what  their  roads  really  are,  namely,  the 
worst  on  earth,  call  the  milky- way  EL  Camino  de  Jerusalem, 
"  the  road  to  Jerusalem,"  which  it  assuredly  is  not.  The  an- 
cients poetically  attributed  this  phenomenon  to  some  spilt  milk  of' 
Juno. 

Meanwhile  the  roads  in  Gallicia,  although  under  the  patronage 
of  Santiago,  who  has  replaced  the  Roman  Hermes,  are,  like  his 
milky-way  in  heaven,  but  little  indebted  to  mortal  repairs.  The 
Dean  of  Santiago  is  way  warden  by  virtue  of  his  office  or  dignity, 
and  especially  "  protector."  The  chapter,  however,  now  chiefly 
profess  to  make  smooth  the  road  to  a  better  world.  They  have 
altogether  degenerated  from  their  forefathers,  whose  grand  object 
was  to  construct  roads  for  the  pilgrims;  but  since  the  cessation 
of  offering-making  Hadjis,  little  or  nothing  has  been  done  in  the 
turnpike-trust  line. 

Some  of  the  finest  roads  in  Spain  lead  either  to  the  sitios  or 
royal  pleasure-seats  of  the  king,  or  wind  gently  up  some  elevated 
and  monastery-crowned  mountain  like  Monserrat.  The  ease  of  the 
despot  was  consulted,  while  that  of  his  subjects  was  neglected  ; 
and  the  Sultan  was  the  State,  Spain  was  his  property,  and  Span- 
iards his  serfs,  and  willing  ones,  for  as  in  the  East,  their  perfect 
equality  amongst  each  other  was  one  result  of  the  immeasurable 
superiority  of  the  master  of  all.  Thus,  while  he  rolled  over  a 
road  hard  and  level  as  a  bowling-green,  and  rapidly  as  a  gallop- 
ing team  could  proceed,  to  a  mere  summer  residence,  the  com- 
munication between  Madrid  and  Toledo,  that  city  on  which  the 
sun  shone  on  the  day  light  was  made,  has  remained  a  mere  track 
ankle  deep  in  mud  during  winter  and  dust-clouded  during  sum- 
mer, and  changing  its  direction  with  the  caprice  of  wandering 
sheep  and  muleteers;  but  Bourbon  Royalty  never  visited  this 
widowed  capital  of  the  Goths.  The  road  therefore  was  left  as  it 
existed  if  not  before  the  time  of  Adam,  at  least  before  MacAdam. 
There  is  some  talk  just  now  of  beginning  a  regular  road ;  when 
it  will  be  finished  is  another  affair. 

The  church,  which  shared  with  the  state  in  dominion,  followed 
the  royal  example  in  consulting  its  own  comforts  as  to  roads. 
Nor  could  it  be  expected  in  a  torrid  land,  that  holy  men,  whose 


ROAD   TO   LA   CORUNA.  45 

abdomens  occasionally  were  prominent  and  pendulous,  should  lard 
the  stony  or  sandy  earth  like  goats,  or  ascend  heaven-kissing  hills 
so  e^peditiously  as  their  prayers.  In  Spain  the  primary  consider, 
ation  has  ever  been  the  souls,  not  the  bodies,  of  men,  or  legs  of 
beasts.  It  would  seem  indeed,  from  the  indifference  shown  to 
the  sufferings  of  these  quadrupedal  blood-engines,  Maquinas  de 
sangre,  as  they  are  called,  and  still  more  from  the  reckless  waste 
of  biped  life,  that  a  man  was  of  no  value  until  he  was  dead; 
then  what  admirable  contrivances  for  the  rapid  travelling  of  h*3 
winged  spirit,  first  to  purgatory,  next  out  again,  and  thence 
from  stage  to  stage  to  his  journey's  end  and  blessed  rest !  More 
money  has  been  thus  expended  in  masses  than  would  have 
covered  Spain  with  railroads,  even  on  a  British  scale  of  magnifi- 
cence and  extravagance. 

To  descend  to  the  roads  of  the  peninsular  earth,  the  principal 
lines  are  nobly  planned.  These  geographical  arteries,  which 
form  the  circulation  of  the  country,  branch  in  every  direction 
from  Madrid,  which  is  the  centre  of  the  system.  Tl-io  road- 
making  spirit  of  Louis  XIV.  passed  into  his'Spanish  descendants, 
and  during  the  reigns  of  Charles  III.  and  Charles  IV.  commu- 
nications were  completed  between  the  capital  and  the  principal 
cities  of  the  provinces.  These  causeways,  "  Arrecifes" — these 
royal  roads.  "  Caminos  reales" — were  planned  on  an  almost  un- 
necessary scale  of  grandeur,  in  regard  both  to  width,  parapets, 
and  general  execution.  The  high  road  to  La  Coruiia,  especially 
after  entering  Leon,  will  stand  comparison  with  any  in  Europe ; 
but  when  Spaniards  finish  anything  it  is  done  in  a  grand  style, 
and  in  this  instance  the  expense  was  so  enormous  that  the  king 
inquired  if  it  was  paved  with  silver,  alluding  to  the  common 
Spanish  corruption  of  the  old  Roman  via  lata  into  "  camino  de 
plata"  of  plate.  This  and  many  of  the  others  were  constructed 
from  fifty  to  seventy  years  ago,  and  very  much  on  the  M'Adam 
system,  which,  having  been  since  introduced  into  England,  has 
rendered  our  roads  so  very  different  from  what  they  were  not  very 
long  since.  The  war  in  the  Peninsula  tended  to  deteriorate  the 
Spanish  roads — when  bridges  and  other  conveniences  were  fre- 
quently destroyed  for  military  reasons,  and  the  exhausted  state  of 
the  finances  of  Spain,  and  troubled  times,  have  delayed  many  of 


46  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

the  more  costly  reparations ;  yet  those  of  the  first  class  were  so 
admirably  constructed  at  the  beginning,  that,  in  spite  of  the  in- 
juries  of  war,  ruts,  and  neglect,  they  may,  as  a  whole,  be  pro- 
nounced equal  to  many  of  the  Continent,  and  are  infinitely  more 
pleasant  to  the  traveller  from  the  absence  of  pavement.  The  roads 
in  England  have,  indeed,  latterly  been  rendered  so  excellent,  and 
we  are  so  apt  to  compare  those  of  other  nations  with  them,  that 
we  forget  that  fifty  years  ago  Spain  was  in  advance  in  that  and 
many  other  respects.  Spain  remains  very  much  what  other 
countries  were  :  she  has  stood  on  her  old  ways,  moored  to  the 
anchor  of  prejudice,  while  we  have  progressed,  and  consequently 
now  appears  behind-hand  in  many  things  in  which  she  set  the 
fashion  to  England. 

The  grand  royal  roads  start  from  Madrid,  and  run  to  the  prin- 
cipal frontier  and  sea-port  towns.  Thus  the  capital  may  be  com- 
pared to  a  spider,  as  it  is  the  centre  of  the  Peninsular  web. 
These  diverging  fan-like  lines  are  sufficiently  convenient  to  all 
who  are  about  to  journey  to  any  single  terminus,  but  inter-com- 
munications are  almost  entirely  wanting  between  any  one  ter- 
minus .with  another.  This  scanty  condition  of  the  Peninsular 
roads  accounts  for  the  very  limited  portions  of  the  country  which 
are  usually  visited  by  foreigners,  who — the  French  especially — 
keep  to  one  beaten  track,  the  high  road,  and  follow  each  other 
like  wild  geese  ;  a  visit  to  Burgos,  Madrid,  and  Seville,  and  then 
a  steam  trip  from  Cadiz  to  Valencia  and  Barcelona,  is  considered 
to  be  making  the  grand  tour  of  Spain ;  thus  the  world  is  favored 
with  volumes  that  reflect  and  repeat  each  other,  which  tell  us 
what  we  know  already,  while  the  rich  and  rare,  the  untrodden, 
unchanged,  and  truly  Moro-Hispanic  portions  are  altogether  ne- 
glected, except  by  the  exceptional  few,  who  venture  forth  like 
Don  Quixote  on  their  horses,  in  search  of  adventures  and  the  pic- 
turesque. 

The  other  roads  of  Spain  are  bad,  but  not  much  more  so  than 
in  other  parts,  of  the  Continent,  and  serve  tolerably  well  in  dry 
weather.  They  are  divided  into  those  which  are  practicable  for 
wheel-carriages,  and  those  which  are  only  bridle-roads,  or  as  they 
call  them,  "  of  horseshoe,"  on  which  all  thought  of  going  with  a 
carriage  is  out  of  the  question ;  when  these  horse  or  mule  tracks 


TRAVELLING.  47 


are  very  bad,  especially  among  the  mountains,  they  compare 
them  to  roads  for  partridges.  The  cross  roads  are  seldom  tolera- 
ble ;  it  is  safest  to  keep  the  high-road — or,  as  we  have  it  in  Eng- 
lish, the  furthest  way  round  is  the  nearest  way  home — for  there 
is  no  short  cut  without  hard  work,  says  the  Spanish  proverb,  "  ho 
hayatajo,  sin  trabajo." 

All  this  sounds  very  unpromising,  but  those  who  adopt  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country  will  never  find  much  practical  difficulty  in 
.getting  to  their  journey's  end ;  slowly,  it  is  true,  for  where 
leagues  and  hours  are  convertible  terms — the  Spanish  liora  being 
the  heavy  German  stunde — the  distance  is  regulated  by  the  day- 
light. Bridle  roads  and  travelling  on  horseback,  the  former  sys- 
tems of  Europe,  are  very  Spanish  and  Oriental;  and  where 
people  journey  on  horse  and  mule  back,  the  road  is  of  minor 
importance.  In  the  remoter  provinces  of  Spain  the  population  is 
agricultural  and  poverty-stricken,  unvisiting  and  unvisited,  not 
going  much  beyond  their  chimney's  smoke.  Each  family  pro- 
vides for  its  simple  habits  and  few  wants  ;  having  buA  little  money 
to  buy  foreign  commodities,  they  are  clad  and  fed,  like  the  Be- 
douins, with  the  productions  of  their'own  fields  and  flocks.  There 
is  little  circulation  of  persons ;  a  neighboring  fair  is  the  mart 
where  they  obtain  the  annual  supply  of  whatever  luxury  they 
can  indulge  in,  or  it  is  brought  to  their  cottages  by  wandering 
muleteers,  or  by  the  smuggler,  who  is  the  type  and  channel  of 
the  really  active  principle  of  trade  in  three-fourths  of  the  Penin- 
sula. It  is  wonderful  how  soon  a  well-mounted  traveller  becomes 
attached  to  travelling  on  horseback,  and  how  quickly  he  becomes 
reconciled  to  a  state  of  roads  which,  startling  at  first  to  those  ac- 
customed to  carriage  highways,  are  found  to  answer  perfectly  for 
all  the  purposes  of  the  place  and  people  where  they  are  found. 
*  Let  us  say  a  few  things  on  Spanish  railroads,  for  the  mania  of 
England  has  surmounted  the  Pyrenees,  although  confined  rather 
more  to  words  than  deeds  ;  in  fact,  it  has  been  said  that  no  rail 
exists,  in  any  country  of  either  the  new  world  or  the  old  one,  in 
which  the  Spanish  language  is  spoken,  probably  from  other  objec- 
tions than  those  merely  philological.  Again,  in  other  countries, 
roads,  canals,  and  traffic  usher  in  the  rail,  which  in  Spain  is  to  pre- 
cede and  introduce  them.  Thus,  by  the  prudent  delays  of  na- 


48  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

tional  caution  and  procrastination,  much  of  the  trouble  and  ex- 
pense of  these  intermediate  stages  will  be  economized,  and  Spain 
will  jump  at  once  from  a  mediaeval  condition  into  the  comforts 
and  glories  of  Great  Britain,  the  land  of  restless  travellers. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  just  now  there  is  much  talk  of  railroads,  and 
splendid  official  and  other  documentos  are  issued,  by  which  the 
"  whole  country  is  to  be  intersected  (on  paper)  with  a  net- work 
of  rapid  and  bowling-green  communications,"  which  are  to 
create  a  "  perfect  homogeneity  among  Spaniards  ;"  for  great  as 
have  been  the  labors  of  Herculean  steam,  this  amalgamation 
of  the  Iberian  rope  of  sand  has  properly  been  reserved  for  the 
crowning  performance. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  specify  the  infinite  lines 
which  are  in  contemplation,  which  may  be  described  when  com- 
pleted. Suffice  it  to  say,  that  they  almost  all  are  to  be  effected 
by  the  iron  and  gold  of  England.  However  this  estrangerismo, 
this  influence  of  the  foreigner,  may  offend  the  sensitive  pride, 
the  Espanolismo  of  Spain,  the  power  of  resistance  offered  by  the 
national  indolence  and  dislike  to  change,  must  be  propelled 
by  British  steam  with  a  dash  of  French  revolution.  Yet  our 
speculators  might,  perhaps,  reflect  that  Spain  is  a  land  which 
never  yet  has  been  able  to  construct  or  support  even  a  sufficient 
number  of  common  roads  or  canals  for  her  poor  and  passive 
commerce  and  circulation.  The  distances  are  far  too  great,  and 
the  traffic  far  too  small,  to  call  yet  for  the  rail ;  while  the  geolo- 
gical formation  of  the  country  offers  difficulties  which,  if  met 
with  even  in  England,  would  baffle  the  colossal  science  and 
extravagance  of  our  first-rate  engineers.  Spain  is  a  land  of 
mountains,  which  rise  everywhere  in  Alpine  barriers,  walling  off 
province  from  province,  and  district  from  district.  These 
mighty  cloud-capped  sierras  are  solid  masses  of  hard  stone,  and 
any  tunnels  which  ever  perforate  their  ranges  will  reduce  that 
at  Box  to  the  delving  of  the  poor  mole.  You  might  as  well 
cover  Switzerland  and  the  Tyrol  with  a  net-work  of  level  lines, 
as  those  caught  in  the  aforesaid  net  will  soon  discover  to  their 
cost.  The  outlay  of  this  up-hill  work  may  be  in  an  inverse  ratio 
to  the  remuneration,  for  the  one  will  be  enormous,  and  the  other 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  RAILROADS.  49 

paltry.     The  parturient  mountains  may  produce  a  most  musipular 
interest,  and  even  that  may  be  "deferred." 

Spain,  again,  is  a  land  of  dehesas  y  despollados :  in  these  wild 
unpeopled  wastes,  next  to  travellers,  commerce  and  cash  are 
what  is  scarce,  while  even  Madrid,  the  capital,  is  without  in- 
dustry or  resources,  and  poorer  than  many  of  our  provincial 
cities.  The  Spaniard,  a  creature  of  routine  and  foe  to  inno- 
vations, is  not  a  moveable  or  locomotive  ;  local,  and  a  parochial 
fixture  by  nature,  he  hates  moving  like  a  Turk,  and  has  a  par- 
ticular horror  of  being  hurried  ;  long,  therefore,  here  has  an 
ambling  mule  answered  all  the  purposes  of  transporting  man  and 
his  goods.  Who  again  is  to  do  the  work  even  if  England  will 
pay  the  wages  ?  The  native,  next  to  disliking  regular  sustained 
labor  himself,  abhors  seeing  the  foreigner  toiling  even  in  his 
service,  and  wasting  his  gold  and  sinews  in  the  thankless  task. 
The  villagers,  as  they  always  have  done,  will  rise  against  the 
stranger  and  heretic  who  comes  to  "suck  the  wealth  of  Spain." 
Supposing,  however,  by  the  aid  of  Santiago  and  Brunei,  that  the 
work  were  possible  and  were  completed,  how  is  it  to  be  secured 
against  the  fierce  action  of  the  sun,  and  the  fiercer  violence  of 
popular  ignorance  ?  The  first  cholera  that  visits  Spain  will  be 
set  down  as  a  passenger  per  rail  by  the  dispossessed  muleteer, 
who  now  performs  the  functions  of  steam  and  rail.  He  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  numerous  and  finest  classes  in  Spain,  and 
is  the  legitimate  channel  of  the  semi-Oriental  caravan  system. 
He  will  never  permit  the  bread  to  be  taken  out  of  his  mouth  by 
this  Lutheran  locomotive :  deprived  of  means  of  earning  his 
livelihood,  he,  like  the  smuggler,  will  take  to  the  road  in  another 
line,  and  both  will  become  either  robbers  or  patriots.  Many, 
long,  and  lonely  are  the  leagues  which  separate  town  from  town 
in  the  wide  deserts  of  thinly-peopled  Spain,  nor  will' any  pre- 
ventive service  be  sufficient  to  guard  the  rail  against  the  guer- 
rilla warfare  that  may  then  be  waged.  A  handful  of  opponents 
in  any  cistus-overgrown  waste,  may  at  any  time,  in  five  minutes, 
break  up  the  road,  stop  the  train,  stick  the  stoker,  and  burn  the 
engines  in  their  own  fire,  particularly  smashing  the  luggage-train. 
What,  again,  has  ever  been  the  recompense  which  the  foreigner 
has  met  with  from  Spain  but  breach  of  promise  and  ingratitude  ? 

PART    T.  4 


50  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


He  will  be  used,  as  in  the  East,  until  the  native  thinks  that  he  has 
mastered  his  arts,  and  then  he  will  be  abused,  cast  out,  and  trod- 
den under  foot ;  and  who  then  will  keep  up  and  repair  the  costly 
artificial  undertaking? — certainly  not  the  Spaniard,  on  whose 
pericranium  the  bumps  of  operative  skill  and  mechanical  construc- 
tion have  yet  to  be  developed. 

The  lines  which  are  the  least  sure  of  failure  will  >be  those 
which  are  the  shortest,  and  pass  through  a  level!  country  of  some 
natural  productions,  such  as  oil,  wine,  and  coal.  Certainly,  if 
the  rail  can  be  laid  down  in  Spain  by  the  gold  and  science  of 
England,  the  gift,  like  that  of  steam,  will  be  worthy  of  the 
Ocean's  Queen,  and  of  the  world's  real  leader  of  civilization  ;  and 
what  a  change  will  then  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  Peninsula ! 
how  the  siestas  of  torpid  man-vegetation,  will  be  disturbed  by 
the  shrill  whistle  and  panting  snort  of  the  monster  engine  !  how 
the  seals  of  this  long  hermetically  shut-up  land  will  be  broken  ! 
how  the  cloistered  obscure,  and  dreams  of  treasures  in  heaven, 
will  be  enlightened  by  the  flashing  fire-demon  of  the  wide-awake 
money- worshipper !  what  owls  will  be  vexed,  what  bats  dispos- 
sessed, what  drones,  mules,  and  asses  will  be  scared,  run  over, 
and  annihilated !  Those  who  love  Spain,  and  pray,  like  the 
author,  daily  for  her  prosperity,  must  indeed  hope  to  see  this 
"net- work  of  rails"  concluded,  but  will  take  especial  care  at 
the  same  time  not  to  invest  one  farthing  in  the  imposing  specu- 
lation . 

Recent  results  have  fully  justified  during  this  year  what  was 
prophesied  last  year  in  the  Hand-Book :  our  English  agents  and 
engineers  were  received  with  almost  divine  honors  by  the  Span- 
iards, so  incensed  were  they  with  flattery  and  cigars.  Their 
shares  were  instantaneously  subscribed  for,  and  directors  nomi- 
nated, with  names  and  titles  longer  even  than  the  lines,  and  the 
smallest  contributions  in  cash  were  thankfully  accepted  : — 

"  L'argfent  dans  une  bourse  entre  agreablement ; 
Mais  le  terme  venu,  quand  il  faut  le  rendre, 
C7est  alors  que  les  douleurs  commencent  a  nous  prendre." 

When  the  period  for  booking  up,  for  making  the  first  instalments, 
arrived,  the  Spanish  shareholders  were  found  somewhat  wanting : 


ANGLO-HISPANO  RAILROADS.  51 

they  repudiated  ;  for  in  the  Peninsula  it  has  long  been  easier  to 
promise  than  to  pay.  Again,  on  the  only  line  which  seems 
likely  to  be  carried  out  at  present,  that  of  Madrid  to  Aranjuez, 
the  first  step  taken  by  them  was  to  dismiss  all  English  engineers 
and  navvies,  on  the  plea  of  encouraging  native  talent,  and  in- 
dustry rather  than  the  foreigner.  Many  of  the  English  home 
proceedings  would  border  on  the  ridiculous,  were  not  the  laugh 
of  some  speculators  rather  on  the  wrong  side.  The  City  capi- 
talists certainly  have  our  pity,  and  if  their  plethora  of  wealth  re- 
quired the  relief  of  bleeding,  it  could  not  be  better  performed  than 
by,  a  Spanish  Sangrado.  How  different  some  of  the  windings-up, 
the  final  reports,  to  the  magnificent  beginnings  and  grandiloquent 
prospectuses  put  forth  as  baits  for  John  Bull,  who  hoped  to  be 
tossed  at  once,  or  elevated,  from  haberdashery  to  a  throne,  by 
being  offered  a  "  potentiality  of  getting  rich  beyond  the  dreams 
of  avarice  !"  Thus,  to  clench  assertion  by  example,  the  London 
directors  of  the  Royal  Valencia  Company  made  known  by 
an  advertisement  only  last  July,  that  they  merely  required 
240,000,000  reals  to  connect  the  seaport  of  Valencia — where 
there  is  none — to  the  capital  Madrid,  with  800,000  inhabitants, — 
there  not  being  200,000.  One  brief  passage  alone  seemed  omi- 
nous in  the  lucid  array  of  prospective  profit — "  The  line  has  not 
yet  been  minutely  surveyed;"  this  might  have  suggested  to  the 
noble  Marquis  whose  attractive  name  heads  the  provisional  com- 
mittee list,  the  difficulty  of  Sterne's  traveller,  of  whom,  when 
observing  how  much  better  things  were  managed  on  the  Continent 
than  in  England,  the  question  was  asked,  "  Have  you,  sir,  ever 
been  there  ?" 

A  still  wilder  scheme  was  broached,  to  connect  Aviles  on  the 
Atlantic  with  Madrid,  the  Austrian  Alps  and  the  Guadarrama 
mountains  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  The  originator  of 
this  ingenious  idea  was  to  receive  40,0007.  for  the  cession  of  his 
plan  to  the  company,  and  actually  did  receive  25,0007.,  which, 
considering  the  difficulties,  natural  and  otherwise,  must  be  con- 
sidered an  inadequate  remuneration.  Although  the  original  and 
captivating  prospectus  stated  "that  the  line  had  been  surveyed, 
and  presented  no  engineering  difficulties,"  it  was  subsequently 
thought  prudent  to  obtain  some  notion  of  the  actual  localities, 


52  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

and  Sir  Joshua  Walmsley  was  sent  forth  with  competent  assist- 
arice  to  spy  out  the  land,  which  the  Jewish  practice  of  old  was 
rather  to  do  before  than  after  serious  undertakings.  A  sad 
change  soon  came  over  the  spirit  of  the  London  dream  by  the 
discovery  that  a  country  which  lookec  level  as  Arrowsmith's 
map  in  the  prospectus,  presented  such  trifling  obstacles  to  the 
rail  as  sundry  leagues  of  mountain  ridges,  which  range  from 
6000  to  9000  feet  high,  and  are  covered  with  snow  for  many 
months  of  the  year.  This  was  a  damper.  The  report  of  the 
special  meeting  (see  <  Morning  Chronicle,'  December  18,  1845) 
should  be  printed  in  letters  of  gold,  from  the  quantity  of  that 
article  which  it  will  preserve  to  our  credulous  countrymen. 
Then  and  there  the  chairman  observed,  with  equal  naivct£ 
and  pathos,  "  that  had  he  known  as  much  before  as  he  did 
now,  he  would  have  been  the  last  man  to  carry  out  a  railway  in 
Spain."  This  experience  cost  him,  he  observed,  5000Z.,  which 
is  paying  dear  for  a  Spanish  rail  whistle.  He  might  for  five 
pounds  have  bought  the  works  of  Townshend  and  Captain  Cook  : 
our  modesty  prevents  the  naming  another  red  book,  in  which 
these  precise  localities,  these  mighty  Alps,  are  described  by  per- 
sons who  had  ridden,  or  rather  soared,  over  them.  At  another 
meeting  of  another  Spanish  rail  company,  held  at  the  London 
Tavern,  October  20,  1846,  another  chairman  announced  "a  fact 
of  which  he  was  not  before  aware,  that  it  was  impossible  to  sur- 
mount the  Pyrenees."  Meanwhile,  the  Madrid  government  had 
secured  30,OOOZ.  from  them  by  way  of  caution  money  ;  but  cau- 
tion disappears  from  our  capitalists,  whenever  excess  of  cash 
mounts  from  their  pockets  into  their  heads  ;  loss  of  common  sense 
and  dollars  is  the  natural  result.  But  it  is  the  fate  of  Spain  and 
her  things,  to  be  judged  of  by  those  who  have  never  been  there, 
and  who  feel  no  shame  at  the  indecency  of  the  nakedness  of  their 
geographical  ignorance.  When  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  beware 
of  hillocks  and  ditches. 


POST-OFFICE. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Post-office  in  Spain — Travelling  with  post  horses — Riding  post — Mails  and 
Diligences,  Galeras,  Coches  de  Colleras,  Drivers  and  manner  of  Driving, 
and  Oaths. 

A  SYSTEM  of  post,  both  for  the  despatch  of  letters  and  the  con- 
veyance of  couriers,  was  introduced  into  Spain  under  Philip  and 
Juana,  that  is,  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  our  Henry  VII. ; 
whereas  it  was  scarcely  organized  in  England  before  the  Govern- 
ment of  Cromwell.  Spain,  which  in  these  matters,  as  well  as  in 
many  others,  was  once  so  much  in  advance,  is  now  compelled  to 
borrow  her  improvements  from  those  nations  of  which  she  for- 
merly was  the  instructress  :  among  these  may  be  reckoned  all 
travelling  in  carriages,  whether  public  or  private. 

The  post-office  for  letters  is  arranged  on  the  plan  common  to 
most  countries  on  the  Continent :  the  delivery  is  pretty  regular, 
but  seldom  daily — twice  or  three  times  a  week.  Small  scruple  is 
made  by  the  authorities  in  opening  private  letters,  whenever  they 
suspect  the  character  of  the  correspondence.  It  is  as  well,  there- 
fore, for  the  traveller  to  avoid  expressing  the  whole  of  his  opin- 
ions of  the  powers  that  be.  The  minds  of  men  have  been  long 
troubled  in  Spain  ;  civil  war  has  rendered  them  very  distrustful 
and  guarded  in  their  written  correspondence — "  carta  canta,"  "  a 
letter  speaks." 

There  is  the  usual  continental  bother  in  obtaining  post-horses, 
which  results  from  their  being  a  monopoly  of  government.  There 
must  be  a  passport,  an  official  order,  notice  of  departure,  &c/; 
next  ensue  vexatious  regulations  in  regard  to  the  number  of  pas- 
sengers, horses,  luggage,  style  of  carriage,  and  so  forth.  These, 
and  other  spokes  put  into  the  wheel,  appear  to  have  been  invented 
by  clerks  who  sit  at  home  devising  how  to  impede  rather  than 
facilitate  posting  at  all. 


54  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR   COUNTRY. 

Post-horses  and  mules  are  paid  at  the  rate  of  seven  rials  each 
for  each  post.  The  Spanish  postilions  generally,  and  especially 
if  well  paid,  drive  at  a  tremendous  pace,  often  amounting  to  a 
gallop  ;  nor  are  they  easily  stopped,  even  if  the  traveller  desires 
it — they  seem  only  to  be  intent  on  arriving  at  their  stages'  end,  in 
order  to  indulge  in  the  great  national  joy  of  then  doing  nothing  ; 
to  get  there,  they  heed  neither  ruts  nor  ravines  ;  and  when  once 
their  cattle  are  started  the  inside  passenger  feels  like  a  kettle  tied 
to  the  tail  of  a  mad  dog,  or  a  comet ;  the  wild  beasts  think 
no  more  of  him  than  if  he  were  Mazeppa  :  thus  money  makes 
the  mare  and  its  driver  to  go,  as  surely  in  Spain  as  in  all  other 
countries. 

Another  mode  of  travelling  is  by  riding  post,  accompanied  by  a 
mounted  postilion,  who  is  changed  with  the  cattle  at  each  relay. 
It  is  an  expeditious  but  fatiguing  plan ;  yet  one  which,  like  the 
Tartar  courier  of  the  East,  has  long  prevailed  in  Spain.  Thus 
our  Charles  I.  rode  to  Madrid  under  the  name  of  John  Smith,  by 
which  he  was  not  likely  to  be  identified.  The  delight  of  Philip 
II.,  who  boasted  that  he  governed  the  world  from  the  Escorial, 
was  to  receive  frequent  and  early  intelligence  ;  and  this  desire  to 
hear  something  new  is  still  characteristic  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment. The  cabinet  couriers  have  the  preference  of  horses  at 
every  relay.  The  particular  distances  they  have  to  perform  are 
all  timed,  and  so  many  leagues  are  required  to  be  done  in  a  fixed 
time ;  and,  in  order  to  encourage  despatch,  for  every  hour  gained 
on  the  allowed  time,  an  additional  sum  was  paid  to  them :  hence 
the  common  expression  "ganando  lioras"  gaining  hours — equiva- 
lent to  our  old  "  post  haste— haste  for  your  life." 

The  usual  mode  of  travelling  for  the  affluent  is  in  the  public 
conveyances,  which  are  the  fashion  from  being  novelties  and  only 
introduced  under  Ferdinand  VII. ;  previously  to  their  being  . 
allowed  at  all,  serious  objections  were  started,  similar  to  those 
raised  by  his  late  Holiness  to  the  introduction  of  railways  into 
the  papal  states ;  it  was  said  that  these  tramontane  facilities 
would  bring  in  foreigners,  and  with  them  philosophy,  heresy, 
and  innovations,  by  which  the  wisdom  of  Spain's  ancestors  might 
be  upset.  These  scruples  were  ingeniously  got  over  by  bribing 
the  monarch  with  a  large  share  of  the  profits.  Now  that  the 


DILIGENCES. 


royal  monopoly  is  broken  down,  many  new  and  competing  com- 
panies have  sprung  up  ;  this  mode  of  travelling  is  the  cheapest 
and  safest,  nor  is  it  thought  at  all  beneath  the  dignity  of  "  the  best 
set,"  nay.royalty  itself  goes  by  the  coach.  Thus  the  Infante  Don 
Francisco  de  Paula  constantly  hires  the  whole  of  the  diligence 
to  convey  himself  and  his  family  from  Madrid  to  the  sea-coast ; 
and  one  reason  gravely  given  for  Don  Enrique's  not  coming  to 
marry  the  Queen,  was  that  his -Royal  Highness  could  not  get  a 
,  place,  as  the  dilly  was  booked  full.  The  public  carriages  of 
Spain  are  quite  as  good  as  those  of  France,  and  the  company 
who  travel  in  them  generally  more  respectable  and  better  bred. 
This  is  partly  accounted  for  by  the  expence :  the  fares  are  not 
very  high,  yet  still  form  a  serious  item  to  the  bulk  of  Spaniards ; 
consequently  those  who  travel  in  the  public  carriages  in  Spain 
are  the  class  who  would  in  other  countries  travel  per  post.  It 
must,  however,  be  admitted  that  all  travelling  in  the  public  con- 
veyances of  the  continent  necessarily  implies  great  discomfort  to 
those  accustomed  to  their  own  carriages  ;  and  with  every  possible 
precaution  the  long  journeys  in  Spain,  of  three  to  five  hundred 
miles  at  a  stretch,  are  such  as  few  English  ladies  can  undergo, 
and  are,  even  with  men,  undertakings  rather  of  necessity  than 
of  pleasure.  The  mail  is  organized  on  the  plan  of  the  French 
malle-poste,  and  offers,  to  those  who  can  stand  the  bumping,  shak- 
ing, and  churning  of  continued  and  rapid  travelling  without  halt- 
ing, a  means  of  locomotion  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired. 
The  diligences  also  are  imitations  of  the  lumbering  French 
model.  It  will  be  in  vain  to  expect  in  them  the  neatness,  the 
well-appointed  turn-out,  the  quiet,  time-keeping,  and  infinite 
facilities  of  the  English  original.  These  matters  when  passed 
across  the  water  are  modified  to  the  heroic  Continental  contempt 
for  doing  things  in  style  ;  cheapness,  which  is  their  great  prin- 
ciple, prefers  rope-traces  to  those  of  leather,  and  a  carter  to  a 
regular  coachman  ;  the  usual  foreign  drags  also  exist,  which 
render  their  slow  coaches  and  bureaucratic  absurdi'jes  so  hateful 
to  free  Britons  •  but  when  one  is  once  booked  and  handed  over 
to  the  conductor,  you  arrive  in  due  time  at  the  journey's  end. 
The  "  guards"  are  realities  ;  they  consist  of  stout,  armed,  most 
picturesque,  robber-like  men  and  no  mistake,  since  many,  before 


56  THE  SPANIARDS  AisD    THEIR  COUNTRY. 

they  were  pardoned  and  pensioned,  have  frequently  taken  a  purse 
on  the  Queen's  highway  ;  for  the  foreground  of  your  first  sketch, 
they  are  splendid  fellows,  and  worth  a  score  of  marshals.  They 
are  provided  with  a  complete  arsenal  of  swords  and  blunder- 
busses, so  that  the  cumbrous  machine  rolling  over  the  sea  of 
plains  looks  like  a  man-of-war,  and  has  been  compared  to  a 
marching  citadel.  Again  in  suspicious  localities  a  mounted  escort 
of  equally  suspicious  look  gallops  alongside,  nor  is  the  primitive 
practice  of  black  mail  altogether  neglected :  the  consequence  of 
these  admirable  precautions  is,  that  the  diligences  are  seldom  o* 
never  robbed  ;  the  thing,  however,  is  possible. 

The  whole  of  this  garrisoned  Noah's  ark  is  placed  under  the 
command  of  the  Mayoral  or  conductor,  who  like  all  Spanish 
men  in  authority  is  a  despot,  and  yet,  like  them,  is  open  to  the 
conciliatory  influences  of  a  bribe.  He  regulates  the  hours  of 
toil  and  sleep,  which  latter — blessings,  says  Sancho,  on  the  man 
who  invented  it ! — is  uncertain,  and  depends  on  the  early  or  late 
arrival  of  the  diligence  and  the  state  of  the  roads,  for  all  that  is 
lost  of  the  fixed  time  on  the  road  is  made  up  for  by  curtailing 
the  time  allowed  for  repose.  One  of  the  many  good  effects  of 
setting  up  diligences  is  the  bettering  the  inns  on  the  road  ;  and  it 
is  a  safe  and  general  rule  to  travellers  in  Spain,  whatever  be 
their  vehicle,  always  to  inquire  in  every  town  which  is  the  po- 
sada  that  the  diligence  stops  at.  Persons  were  dispatched  from 
Madrid  to  the  different  stations  on  the  great  lines,  to  fit  up  houses, 
bedrooms,  and  kitchens,  and  provide  everything  for  table  service  ; 
cooks  were  sent  round  to  teach  the  innkeepers  to  set  out  and  pre- 
pare a  proper  dinner  and  supper.  Thus,  in  villages  in  which  a 
few  years  before  the  use  of  a  fork  was  scarcely  known,  a  table 
was  laid  out,  clean,  well  served,  and  abundant.  The  example 
set  by  the  diligence  inns  has  produced  a  beneficial  effect,  since 
^ey  offer  a  model,  create  competition,  and  suggest  the  existence 
•»f  many  comforts,  which  were  hitherto  unknown  among  Spaniards, 
whose  abnegation  of  material  enjoyments  at  home,  and  praiseworthy 
endurance  of  privations  of  all  kinds  on  journeys,  are  quite  Oriental. 

In  some  of  the  new  companies  every  expense  is  calculated  in 
the  fare,  to  wit,  journey,  postilions,  inns,  &c.,  which  is  very  con- 
venient to  the  stranger,  and  prevents  the  loss  of  much  money  and 


BEDS   FOR   TRAVELLERS.  57 

temper.  A  chapter  on  the  dilly  is  as  much  a  standing  dish  in 
every  Peninsular  tour  as  a  bullfight  or  a  bandit  adventure,  for 
which  there  is  a  continual  demand  in  the  home-market ;  and  no 
doubt  in  the  long  distances  of  Spain,  where  men  and  women  are 
boxed  up  for  three  or  four  mortal  days  together  (the  nights  not 
being  omitted),  the  plot  thickens,  and  opportunity  is*  afforded  to 
appreciate  costume  and  character  j  the  farce  or  tragedy  may  be 
spun  out  into  as  many  acts  as  the  journey  takes  days.  In  general 
the  order  of  the  course  is  as  follows :  the  breakfast  consists  at 
early  dawn  of  a  cup  of  good  stiff  chocolate,  which  being  the  favor- 
ite  drink  of  the  church  and  allowable  even  on  fast  days,  is  as  nu- 
tritious as  delicious.  It  is  accompanied  by  a  bit  of  roasted  or 
fried  bread,  and  is  followed  by  a  glass  of  cold  water,  to  drink 
which  is  an  axiom  with  all  wise  men  who  respect  the  efficient 
condition  of  their  livers.  After  rumbling  on,  over  a  given  num- 
ber of  leagues,  when  the  passengers  get  well  shaken  together  and 
hungry,  a  regular  knife  and  fork  breakfast  is  provided  that  closely 
resembles  the  dinner  or  supper  which  is  served  up  later  in  the 
evening;  the  table  is  plentiful,  and  the  cookery,  to  those  who  like 
oil  and  garlic,  excellent.  Those  who  .do  not  can.  always  fall  back 
on  the  bread  and  eggs,  which  are  capital ;  the  wine  is  occasionally 
like  purple  blacking,  -and  sometimes  serves  also  as  vinegar  for  the 
salad,  as  the  oil  is  said  to  be  used  indifferently  for  lamps  or  stews ; 
a  bad  dinner,  especially  if  the  bill  be  long,  and  the  wine  sour,  does 
not  sweeten  the  passengers'  tempers ;  they  become  quarrelsome, 
and  if  they  have  the  good  luck,  a  little  robber  skirmish  gives  vent 
to  ill-humor. 

At  nightfall,  after  supper,  a  few  hours  are  allowed  on  your 
part  to  steal  whatever  rest  the  mayoral  and  certain  vottigeurs, 
creeping  and  winged,  will  permit ;  the  beds  are  plain  and  clean ; 
sometimes  the  mattresses  may  be  compared  to  sacks  of  walnuts, 
but  there  is  no  pillow  so  soft  as  fatigue  ;  the  beds  are  generally 
arranged  in  twos,  threes,  and  fours,  according  to  the  size  of  the 
room.  The  traveller  should  immediately  on  arriving  secure  his, 
and  see  that  it  is  comfortable,  for  those  who  neglect  to  get  a  good 
one  must* sleep  in  a  bad.  Generally  speaking,  by  a  little  man- 
agement, he  may  get  a  room  to  himself,  or  at  least  select  his  com- 
panions. There  is,  moreover,  a  real  civility  and  politeness  shown 


58  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

by  all  classes  of  Spaniards,  on  all  occasions,  towards  strangers 
and  ladies ;  and  that  even  failing,  a  small  tip,  "  una  gratificacion- 
cita"  given  beforehand  to  the  maid,  or  the  waiter,  seldom  fails  to 
smooth  all  difficulties.  On  these,  as  on  all  occasions  in  Spain, 
most  things  may  be  obtained  by  good  humor,  a  smile,  a  joke,  a 
proverb,  a  "cigar,  or  a  bribe,  which,  though  last,  is  by  no  means 
the  least  resource,  since  it  will  be  found  to  mollify  the  hardest 
heart  and  smooth  the  greatest  difficulties,  after  civil  speeches  had 
been  tried  in  vain,  for  Dadivas  quebrantan  penas,  y  entra  sin  bar- 
renas,  gifts  break  rocks,  and  penetrate  without  gimlets ;  again, 
Mas  ablanda  dinero  que  palabras  de  Caballero,  cash  softens  more 
than  a  gentleman's  palaver.  The  mode  of  driving  in  Spain, 
which  is  so  unlike  our  way  of  handling  the  ribbons,  will  be  de- 
scribed presently. 

Means  of  conveyance  for  those  who  cannot  afford  the  diligence 
are  provided  by  vehicles  of  more  genuine  Spanish  nature  and  dis- 
comfort ;  they  may  be  compared  to  the  neat  accommodation  for 
man  and  beast  which  is  doled  out  to  third-class  passengers  by  our 
monopolist  railway  kings,  who  have  usurped  her  Majesty's  high- 
way, and  fleece  her  lieges  by  virtue  of  act  of  Parliament. 

First  and  foremost  comes  the  galera,  which  fully  justifies  its 
name ;  and  even  those  who  have  no  value  for  their  time  or  bones 
will,  after  a  short  trial  of  the  rack  and  dislocation,  exclaim  :  "  que 
diable  allais-je  faire  dans  cette  galere  ?"  These  machines  travel 
periodically  from  town  to  town,  and  form  the  chief  public  and 
carrier  communication  between  most  provincial  cities ;  they  are 
not  much  changed  from  that  classical  cart,  the  rheda,  into  which, 
as  we  read  in  Juvenal,  the  whole  family  of  Fabricius  was  con- 
veyed. In  Spain  these  primitive  locomotives  have  stood  still  in 
the  general  advance  of  this  age  of  progress,  and  carry  us  back  to 
our  James  I.,  and  Fynes  Moryson's  accounts  of  "  carryers  who 
have  long  covered  waggons,  in  which  they  carry  passengers  from 
tity  to  city;  but  this  kind  of  journeying  is  so  tedious,  by  reason 
they  must  take  waggons  very  early  and  come  very  late  to  their 
innes,  none  but  women  and  people  of  inferior  condition  used  to 
travel  in  this  sort."  So  it  is  now  in  Spain. 

This  galera  is  a  long  cart  without  springs ;  the  sides  are  lined 
with  matting,  while  beneath  hangs  a  loose  open  net,  as  under  the 


CARRIAGES   AND   CARTS.  59 

calesinas  of  Naples,  in  which  lies  and  barks  a  horrid  dog,  who 
keeps  a  Cerberus  watch  over  iron  pots  and  sieves,  and  such  like 
gipsey  utensils,  and  who  is  never  to  be  conciliated.  These  gale- 
ras  are  of  all  sizes  ;  but  if  a  galera  should  be  a  larger  sort  of 
vehicle  than  is  wanted,  then  a  "  tartana"  a  sort  of  covered  tilted 
cart,  which  is  very  common  jn  Valencia,  and  which  is  so  called 
from  a  small  Mediterranean  craft  of  the  same  name,  will  be  found 
convenient. 

The  packing  and  departure  of  the  galera,  when  hired  by  a 
family  who  remove  their  goods,  is  a  thing  of  Spain  ;  the  heavy 
luggage  is  stowed  in  first,  and  beds  and  mattresses  spread  on  the 
top,  on  which  the  family  repose  in  admired  disorder.  The  galera 
is  much  used  by  the  "  poor  students"  of  Spain,  a  class  unique  of 
its  kind,  and  full  of  rags  and  impudence  ;  their  adventures  have 
the  credit  of  being  rich  and  picturesque,  and  recall  some  of  the 
accounts  of  "  waggon  incidents"  in  '  Roderick  Random/  and 
Smollett's  novels. 

Civilization,  as  connected  with  the  wheel,  is  still  at  a  low  ebb 
in  Spain,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  political  revolutions. 
Except  in  a  few  great  towns,  the  quiz  vehicles  remind  us  of  those 
caricatures  at  which  one  laughed  so  heartily  in  Paris  in  1814; 
and  in  Madrid,  even  down  to  Ferdinand  VII. Js  decease,  the  Prado — 
its  rotten  row — was  filled  with  antediluvian  carriages — grotesque 
coachmen  and  footmen  to  match,  which  with  us  would  be  put  into 
the  British  Museum  ;  they  are  now,  alas  for  painters  and  authors ! 
worn  out,  and  replaced  by  poor  French  imitations  of  good  Eng- 
lish originals. 

As  the  genuine  older  Spanish  ones  were  built  in  remote  ages, 
and  before  the  invention  of  folding  steps,  the  ascent  and  descent 
were  facilitated  by  a  three-legged  footstool,  which  dangled,  strap- 
ped up  near  the  door,  as  appears  in  the  hieroglyphics  of  Egypt 
4000  years  ago ;  a  pair  of  long-eared  fat  mules,  with  hides  and 
tails  fantastically  cut,  was  driven  by  a  superannuated  postilion  in 
formidable  jackboots,  and  not  less  formidable  cocked  hat  of  oil- 
cloth. In  these,  how  often  have  we  seen  Spanish  grandees  with 
pedigrees  as  old-fashioned,  gravely  taking  the  air  and  dust! 
These  slow  coaches  of  old  Spain  have  been  rapidly  sketched  by 
the  clever  young  American  ;  such  are  the  ups  and  downs  of  na- 


60  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

tions  and  vehicles.  Spain  for  having  discovered  America  has  in 
return  become  her  butt ;  she  cannot  go  a-head  ;  so  the  great  dust 
of  Alexander  may  stop  a  bung-hole,  and  we  too  join  in  the  laugh 

and  forget  that  our   ancestors — see    Beaumont    and    Fletcher's 

o 

'  Maid  of  the  Inn' — talked  of  "  hurrying  on  featherbeds  that  move 
upon  four-wheel  Spanish  caroches." 

While  on  these  wheel  subjects  it  may  be  observed  that  the  carts 
and  other  machines  of  Spanish  rural  locomotion  and  husbandry 
have  not  escaped  better ;  when  not  Oriental  they  are  Roman  ; 
rude  in  form  and  material,  they  are  always  odd,  picturesque,  and 
inconvenient.  The  peasant,  for  the  most  part,  scratches  the  earth 
with  a  plough  modelled  after  that  invented  by  Triptolemus,  beats 
out  his  corn  as  described  by  Homer,  and  carries  his  harvest  home 
in  strict  obedience  to  the  rules  in  the  Georgics.  The  iron  work 
is  iniquitous,  but  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees  are  centuries  behind 
England ;  there,  absurd  tariffs  prohibit  the  importation  of  our 
cheap  and  good  work  in  order  to  encourage  their  own  bad  and 
dear  wares — thus  poverty  and  ignorance  are  perpetuated. 

The  carts  in  the  north-west  provinces  are  the  unchanged  plau- 
stra,  with  solid  wheels,  the  Roman  tympana  which  consists  of 
mere  circles  of  wood,  without  spokes  or  axles,  much  like  mill- 
stones or  Parmesan  cheeses,  and  precisely  such  as  the  old  Egypt- 
ians used,  as  is  seen  in  hieroglyphics,  and  no  doubt  much  resem- 
bling those  sent  by  Joseph  for  his  father,  which  are  still  used  by 
the  Affghans  and  other  unadvanced  coachmakers.  The  whole 
wheel  turns  round  together  with  a  piteous  creaking ;  the  drivers, 
whose  leathern  ears  are  as  blunt  as  their  edgeless  teeth,  delight 
in  this  excruciating  Chirrio,  Arabice  charrar,  to  make  a  noise, 
which  they  call  music,  and  delight  in,  because  it  is  cheap  and 
plays  to  them  of  itself:  they,  moreover,  think  it  frightens  wolves, 
bears,  and  the  devil  himself,  as  Don  Quixote  says,  which  it  well 
may,  for  the  wheel  of  Ixion,  although  damned  in  hell,  never 
whined  more  piteously.  The  doleful  sounds,  however,  serve  like 
our  waggoners'  lively  bells,  as  warnings  to  other  drivers,  who,  in 
narrow  paths  and  gorges  of  rocks,  where  two  carriages  cannot 
pass,  have  this  notice  given  them,  and  draw  aside  until  the  coast 
is  clear. 

We  have  reserved  "some  details  and  the  mode  of  driving  for  the 


THE  COCHE   DE  COLLERAS. 


cache  de  colleras,  the  caroche  of  horse-collars,  which  is  the  real 
coach  of  Spain,  and  in  which  we  have  made  many  a  pleasant 
trip  ;  it  too  is  doomed  to  be  scheduled  away,  for  Spaniards  are 
descending  from  these  coaches  and  six  to  a  chariot  and  pair,  and 
by  degrees  beautifully  less,  to  a  fly. 

Mails  and  diligences,  we  have  said,  are  only  established  on  the 
principal  high  roads  connected  with  Madrid  :  there  are  but  few 
local  coaches  which  run  from  one  provincial  town  to  another, 
where  the  necessity  of  frequent  and  certain  intercommunication  is 
little  called  for.  In  the  other  provinces,  where  these  modern 
conveniences  have  not  been  introduced,  the  earlier  mode  of  travel- 
ling is  the  only  resource" left  to  families  of  children,  women,  and 
invalids,  who  are  unable  to  perform  the  journey  on  horseback. 
This  is  ihefestina  lente,  or  voiturier  system ;  and  from  its  long 
continuance  in  Italy  and  Spain,  in  spite  of  all  the  improvements 
adopted  in  other  countries,  it  would  appear  to  have  something  con- 
genial and  peculiarly  fitted  to  the  habits  and  wants  of  those  cog- 
nate nations  of  the  south,  who  have  a  Goth-Oriental  dislike  to  be 
hurried — no  corre  priesa,  there  is  plenty  of  time.  Sie  haben  zeit 
genug. 

The  Spanish  vetturino,  or  "  Calesero"  is  to  be  found,  as  in 
Italy,  standing  for  hire  in  particular  and  well-known  places  in 
every  principal  town.  There  is  not  much  necessity  for  hunting 
for  Mm ;  he  has  the  Italian  instinctive  perception  of  a  stranger 
and  traveller,  and  the  same  importunity  in  volunteering  himself, 
his  cattle,  and  carriage,  for  any  part  of  Spain.  The  man,  how- 
ever, and  his  equipage  are  peculiarly  Spanish  ;  his  carriage  and 
his  team  have  undergone  little  change  during  the  last  two  cen- 
turies, and  are  the  representatives  of  the  former  ones  of  Europe  • 
they  resemble  those  vehicles  once  used  in  England,  which  may 
still  be  seen  in  the  old  prints  of  country-houses  by  Kip  ;  or,  as 
regards  Prance,  in  the  pictures  of  Louis  XIV.'s  journeys  and 
campaigns  by  Vandermeulen.  They  are  the  remnant  of  the 
once  universal  "  coach  and  six,"  in  which  according  to  Pope, 
who  was  not  infallible,  British  fair  were  to  delight  for  ever. 
The  "coche  de  colleras"  is  a  huge  cumbrous  machine,  built  after 
the  fashion  of  a  reduced  lord  mayor's  coach,  or  some  of  the 
equipages  or  the  old  cardinals,  at  Rome.  It  is  ornamented  with 


«2  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

rude  sculpture,  gilding,  and  painting  of  glaring  color,  but  the 
modern  pea-jacket  and  round  hat  spoil  the  picture  which  requires 
passengers  dressed  in  brocade  and  full-bottomed  wigs  ;  the  fore- 
wheels  are  very  low,  the  hind  ones  very  high,  and  both  remark- 
ably narrow  in  the  tire ;  remember  when  they  stick  in  the  mud, 
and  the  drivers  call  upon  Santiago,  to  push  the  vehicle  out  back- 
wards, as  the  more  you  draw  it  forwards  the  deeper  you  get  into 
the  mire.  The  pole  sticks  out  like  the  bowsprit  of  a  ship,  and 
contains  as  much  wood  and  iron  work  as  would  go  to  a  small 
waggon.  The  interior  is  lined  with  gay  silk  and  gaudy  plush, 
adorned  with  lace  and  embroidery,  with  doors  that  open  indiffer- 
ently and  windows  that  do  not  shut  well ;  latterly  the  general 
poverty  and  prose  of  transpyrenean  civilization  has  effaced  much 
of  these  ornate  nationalities,  both  in  coach  and  drivers ;  better 
roads  and  lighter  vehicles  require  fewer  horses,  which  were  ab- 
solutely necessary  formerly  to  drag  the  heavy  concern  through 
heavier  ways. 

The  luggage  is  piled  up  behind,  or  stowed  away  in  a  front 
boot.  The"  management  of  driving  this  vehicle  is  conducted  by 
two  persons.  The  master  is  called  the  "  mayoral ;"  his  helper  or 
cad  the  "  mozo"  or,  more  properly,  "  el  zagal"  from  the  Arabic, 
"  a  strong  active  youth."  The  costume  is  peculiar,  and  is  based 
on  that  of  Andalucia,  which  sets  the  fashion  all  over  the  Penin- 
sula, in  all  matters  regarding  bull-fighting,  horse-dealing,  robbing, 
smuggling,  and  so  forth.  He  wears  on  his  head  a  gay-colored 
silk  handkerchief,  tied  in  such  a  manner  that  the  tails  hang  down 
behind.;  over  this  remnant  of  the  Moorish  turban  he  places  a 
high-peaked  sugarloaf-shaped  hat  with  broad  brims  ;  his  jaunty 
jacket  is  made  either  of  black  sheepskin,  studded  with  silver  tags 
and  filigree  buttons,  or  of  brown  cloth,  with  the  back,  arms,  and 
particularly  the  elbows,  welted  and  tricked  out  with  flowers  and 
vases,  cut  in  patches  of  different-colored  cloth  and  much  em- 
broidered. When  the  jacket  is  not  worn,  it  is  usually  hung  over 
the  left  shoulder,  after  the  hussar  fashion.  The  waistcoat  is 
made  of  rich  fancy  silk ;  the  breeches  of  blue  or  green  velvet 
plush,  ornamented  with  stripes  and  filigree  buttons,  and  tied  at 
the  knee  with  silken  cords  and  tassels ;  the  neck  is  left  open,  and 
the  shirt  collar  turned  down,  and  a  gaudy  neck-handkerchief  is 


THE   ZAGAL.  93 


worn,  oftener  passed  through  a  ring  than  tied  in  a  knot ;  his 
waist  is  girt  with  a  red  sash,  or  with  one  of  a  bright  yellow. 
This  "/aja,"*  a  sine  qua  non,  is  the  old  Roman  zona  ;  it  serves 
also  for  a  purse,  "  girds  the  loins,"  and  keeps  up  a  warmth  over 
the  abdomen,  which  is  highly  beneficial  in  hot  climates,  and 
wards  off  any  tendency  to  irritable  colic ;  in  the  sash  is  stuck  the 
"  navaja"  the  knife,  which  is  part  and  parcel  of  a  Spaniard,  and 
behind  the  "  zagal"  usually  places  his  stick.  The  richly  em- 
broidered gaiters  are  left  open  at  the  outside  to  show  a  handsome 
stocking  ;  the  shoes  are  yellow  like  those  of  our  cricketers,  and 
are  generally  made  of  untanned  calfskin,  which  being  the  color 
of  dust  require  no  cleaning.  The  caleseros  on  the  eastern  coast 
wear  the  Valencian  stocking,  which  has  no  feet  to  it — being 
open  at  bottom,  it  is  likened  by  wags  to  a  Spaniard's  purse  ;  in^ 
stead  of  top  boots  they  wear  the  ancient  Roman  sandals,  made  of 
the  esparto  rush,  with  hempen  soles,  which  are  called  "alparga- 
tas,"  Arabice  Alpalgah.  The  "  zagal"  follows  the  fashion  in 
dress  of  the  "  mayoral"  as  nearly  as  his  means  will  permit  him 
He  is  the  servant  of  all- work,  and  must  be  ready  on  every  occa 
sion  ;  nor  can  any  one  who  has  ever  seen  the  hard  and  inces 
sant  toil  which  these  men  undergo,  justly  accuse  them  of  being 
indolent — a  reproach  which  has  been  cast  somewhat  indiscrimi- 
nately  on  all  the  lower  classes  of  Spain  ;  he  runs  by  the  side 
of  the  carriage,  picks  up  stones  to  pelt  the  mules,  ties  and  untie? 
knots,  and  pours  forth  a  volley  of  blows  and  oaths  from  the  mo- 
ment of  starting  to  that  of  arrival.  He  sometimes  is  indulged 
with  a  ride  by  the  side  of  the  mayoral  on  the  box,  when  he  al 
ways  uses  the  tail  of  the  hind  mule  to  pull  himself  up  into  his 
seat.  The  harnessing  the  six  animals  is  a  difficult  operation  ;  first 
the  tackle  of  ropes  is  laid  out  on  the  ground,  then  each  beast  L* 
brought  into  his  portion  of  the  rigging.  The  start  is  always  an 
important  ceremony,  and,  as  our  royal  mail  used  to  do  in  the 

*  Faja :  the  Hhezum  of  Cairo.  Atrides  tightens  his  sash  when  preparing 
for  action — Iliad  xi.  15.  The  Roman  soldiers  kept  their  money  in  it.  Ibit 
qui  zoiwm  perdidit. — Hor.  ii.  Ep.  2.  40.  The  Jews  used  it  for  the  same  pur- 
pose— Matthew  x.  9  ;  Mark  vi.  8.  It  is  loosened  at  night.  "  None  shall 
slumber  or  sleep,  neither  shall  the  girdle  of  their  loins  be  loosed."  Isaiah 
v.27. 


64  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

country,  brings  out  all  the  idlers  in  the  vicinity.  When  the  team 
is  harnessed,  the  mayoral  gets  all  his  skeins  of  ropes  into  his 
hand,  the  "  zagal"  his  sash  full  of  stones,  the  helpers  at  the  venta 
their  sticks ;  at  a  given  signal  all  fire  a  volley  of  oaths  and 
blows  at  the  team,  which,  once  in  motion,  away  it  goes,  pitching 
over  ruts  deep  as  routine  prejudices,  with  its  pole  dipping  and 
rising  like  a  ship  in  a  rolling  sea,  and  continues  at  a  brisk  pace, 
performing  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles  a-day.  The  hours  of 
starting  are  early,  in  order  to  avoid  the  mid-day  heat ;  in  these 
matters  the  Spanish  customs  are  pretty  much  the  same  with  the 
Italian  ;  the  calesero  is  always  the  best  judge  of  the  hours  of  de- 
parture and  these  minor  details,  which  vary  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

Whenever  a  particularly  bad  bit  of  road  occurs,  notice  is  given 
to  the  team  by  calling  over  their  names,  and  by  crying  out 
"  arr£,  arre^  gee-up,  which  is  varied  with  "firme,  firme" 
steady,  boy,  steady !  The  names  of  the  animals  are  always 
fine-sounding  and  polysyllabic  ;  the  accent  is  laid  on  the  last 
syllable,  which  is  always  dwelt  on  and  lengthened  out  with  a 
particular  emphasis — Cdpltdnd-d — Bdndolerd-d — Gentrdld-d — 
Vdlerosd-d.  All  this  vocal  driving  is  performed  at  the  top  of 
the  voice,  and,  indeed,  next  to  scaring  away  crows  in  a  field, 
must  be  considered  the  best  possible  practice  for  the  lungs.  The 
team  often  exceeds  six  in  number,  and  never  is  less  •  the  propor- 
tion of  females  predominates :  there  is  generally  one  male  mule 
making  the  seventh,  who  is  called  "  el  macho"  the  male  par  excel- 
lence, like  the  Grand  Turk,  or  a  substantive  in  a  speech  in  Cortes, 
which  seldom  has  less  than  half  a  dozen  epithets :  he  invariably 
comes  in  for  the  largest  share  of  abuse  and  ill  usage,  which,  in- 
deed, he  deserves  the  most,  as  the  male  mule  is  infinitely  more 
stubborn  and  viciously  inclined  than  the  female.  Sometimes 
there  is  a  horse  of  the  Rosinante  breed  ;  he  is  called  "  el  cavallo" 
or  rather,  as  it  is  pronounced,  "  el  cdvdl-yo-6."  The  horse  is 
always  the  best  used  of  the  team  ;  to  be  a  rider,  "  caballero" 
is  the  Spaniard's  synonym  for  gentleman  ;  and  it  is  their  correct 
mode  of  addressing  each  other,  and  is  banded  gravely  among 
the  lower  orders,  who  never  have  crossed  any  quadruped  save  a 
mule  or  a  jackass. 


SWEARING.  65 


The  driving  a  coche  de  cotter  as  is  quite  a  science  of  itself,  and 
is  observed  in  conducting  diligences;  it  amuses  the  Spanish 
"  majo"  or  fancy-man  as  much  as  coach-driving  does  the  fancy- 
man  of  England  ;  the  great  art  lies  not  in  handling  the  ribbons, 
but  in  the  proper  modulation  of  the  voice,  since  the  cattle  are 
always  addressed  individually  by  their  names ;  the  first  syllables 
are  pronounced  very  rapidly;  the  "macho,"  the  male  mule,  who 
is  the  most  abused,  is  the  only  one  who  is  not  addressed  by  any 
names  beyond  that  of  his  sex :  the  word  is  repeated  with  a  volu- 
ble iteration  ;  in  order  to  make  the  two  syllables  longer,  they 
are  strung  together  thus,  macho — mdclio — macho — mdcho-6  : 
they  begin  in  semiquavers,  flowing  on  crescendo  to  a  semibreve 
or  breve,  so  the  four  words  are  compounded  into  one  polysyllable. 
The  horse,  caballo,  is  simply  called  so  ;  he  has  no  particular  name 
of  his  own,  which  the  female  mules  are  never  without,  and  which 
they  perfectly  know — indeed,  the  owners  will  say  that  they  under- 
stand them,  and  all  bad  language,  as  well  as  Christian  women, 
"  como  Christianas  ;"  and,  to  do  the  beasts  justice,  they  seem  more 
shocked  and  discomfited  thereby  than  the  bipeds  who  profess  the 
same  creed.  If  the  animal  called  to  does  not  answer  by  pricking 
up  her  ears,  or  by  quickening  her  pace,  the  threat  of  "  Id  vdrd" 
the  stick,  is  added — the  last  argument  of  Spanish  drivers,  men  in 
office,  and  schoolmasters,  with  whom  there  is  no  sort  of  reason 
equal  to  that  of  the  bastinado,  "  770,  hay  tal  razon,  como  la  del 
baston."  It  operates  on  the  timorous  more  than  "  unadorned 
eloquence."  The  Moors  thought  so  highly  of  the  bastinado,  that 
they  held  the  stick  to  be  a  special  gift  from  Allah  to  the  faith- 
ful. It  holds  good,  a  priori  and  a  posteriori,  to  mule  and  boy, 
" al  hijo  y  mulo,  para  el  culo ;"  and  if  the  "macho"  be  in 
fault,  and  he  is  generally  punished  to  encourage  the  others,  some 
abuse  is  added  to  blows,  such  as  "  que  perro-o"  "  what  a  dog  !" 
or  some  unhandsome  allusion  to  his  mother,  which  is  followed 
by  throwing  a  stone  at  the  leaders,  for  no  whip  could  reach 
them  from  the  coach-box.  When  any  particular  mule's  name  is 
called,  if  her  companion  be  the  next  one  to  be  abused,  she  is 
seldom  addressed  by  her  name,  but  is  spoken  to  as  "  a  la  6trd-d" 
"  aquella  otrd-d,"  "Now  for  that  other  one,"  which  from  long 
association  is  expected  and  acknowledged.  The  team  obeys  the 


66  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

voice  and  is  an  admirable  command.  Few  things  are  more 
entertaining  than  driving  them,  especially  over  bad  roads  ;  but 
it  requires  much  practice  in  Spanish  speaking  and  swearing. 

Among  the  many  commandments  that  are  always  broken  in 
Spain,  that  of  "  swear  not  at  all  "  is  not  the  least.  "  Our  army 
swore  lustily  in  Flanders/7  said  Uncle  Toby.  But  few  nations 
can  surpass  the  Spaniards  in  the  language  of  vituperation :  it  is 
limited  only  by  the  extent  of  their  anatomical,  geographical, 
astronomical,  and  religious  knowledge ;  it  is  so  plentifully  be- 
stowed on  their  animals — "  un  muletier  a  ce  jeu  vaut  trois  rois '' 
— that  oaths  and  imprecations  seem  to  be  considered  as  the  only 
language  the  mute  creation  can  comprehend ;  and  as  actions  are 
generally  suited  to  the  words,  the  combination  is  remarkably 
effective.  As  much  of  the  traveller's  time  on  the  road  must  be 
passed  among  beasts  and  muleteers,  who  are  not  unlike  them, 
some  knowledge  of  their  sayings  and  doings  is  of  great  use :  to 
be  able  to  talk  to  them  in  their  own  lingo,  to  take  an  interest  in 
them  and  in  their  animals,  never  fails  to  please ;  "  For  vida  del 
demonio.  mas  sabe  Usia  que  nosotros  ;"  "  by  the  life  of  the  devil, 
your  honor  knows  more  than  we,"  is  a  common  form  of  compli- 
ment. When  once  equality  is  established,  the  master  mind  soon 
becomes  the  real  master  of  the  rest.  The  great  oath  of  Spain, 
which  ought  never  to  be  written  or  pronounced,  practically  forms 
the  foundation  of  the  language  of  the  lower  orders ;  it  is  a  most 
ancient  remnant  of  the  phallic  abjuration  of  the  evil  eye,  the 
dreaded  fascination  which  still  perplexes  the  minds  of  Orientals, 
and  is  not  banished  from  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  superstition's.* 

#  The  dread  of  the  fascination  of  the  evil  eye,  from  which  Solomon  was 
not  exempt  (Proverbs  xxiii.  6),  prevails  all  over  the  East;  it  has  not  been 
extirpated  from  Spain  or  from  Naples,  which  so  long  belonged  to  Spain. 
The  lower  classes  in  the  Peninsula  hang  round  the  necks  of  their  children 
and  cattle,  a  horn  tipped  with  silver  ;  this  is  sold  as  an  amulet  in  the  silver- 
smiths' shops ;  the  cord  by  which  it  is  attached,  ought  to  be  braided  from  a 
black  mare's  tale.  The  Spanish  gipsies,  of  whom  Borrow  has  given  us  so 
complete  an  account,  thrive  by  disarming  the  mat  de  ojo^  li  qiiereltr  nasulap 
as  they  term  it.  The  drea 1  of  the  "  Am  araj'  exists  among  all  .classes  of 
the  Moors.  The  better  classes  of  Spaniards  make  a  joke  of  it ;  and  often, 
when  you  remark  that  a  person  has  put  on  or  wears  something  strange  about 
him  the  answer  is,  "  Es  para  que  no  me  hagan  mal  de  ojoP  Naples  is  the 


HINTS  FOR  HIRING.  67 

The  word  terminates  in  ajo,  on  which  great  stress  is  laid :  the  j 
is  pronounced  with  a  most  Arabic,  guttural  aspiration.  The 
word  ajo  means  also  garlic,  which  is  quite  as  often  in  Spanish 
mouths,  and  is  exactly  what  Hotspur  liked,  a  "  mouth-filling  oath," 
energetic  and  Michael  Angelesque.  The  pun  has  been  extended 
to  onions ;  thus,  "  ajos  y  celollas  "  means  oaths  and  imprecations. 
The  sting  of  the  oath  is  in  the  "  ajo  ;"  all  women  and  quiet  men, 
who  do  not  wish  to  be  particularly  objuratory,  but  merely  to  en- 
force and  give  a  little  additional  vigor,  un  soupcon  d'ail,  or  a 
shotting  to  their  discourse,  drop  the  offensive  "  ajo,"  and  say, 
"car,"  "  carai"  "  caramba,"  The  Spanish  oath  is  used  as  a  verb, 
as  a  substantive,  as  an  adjective,  just  as  it  suits  the  grammar  or 
the  wrath  of  the  utterer.  It  is  equivalent  also  to  a  certain  place 
and  the  person  who  lives  there.  "  Vaya  Usted  al  C — ajo,  is  the 
worst  form  of  the  angry  "  Vaya  Usted  al  demonio,"  or  "a  los 
infiernos,"  and  is  a  whimsical  mixture  of  courtesy  and  transpor- 
tation. "  Your  Grace  may  go  to  the  devil,  or  to  the  infernal 
regions !" 

Thus  these  imprecatory  vegetables  retain  in  Spain  their  old 
Egyptian  flavor  and  mystical  charm ;  as  on  the  Nile,  according 
to  Pliny,  onions  and  garlic  were  worshipped  as  adjuratory  divini- 
ties. The  Spaniards  have  also  added  most  of  the  gloomy  northern 
Gothic  oaths,  which  are  imprecatory,  to  the  Oriental,  which  are 
grossly  sensual.  Enough  of  this.  The  traveller  who  has  much 
to  do  with  Spanish  mules  and  asses,  biped  or  quadruped,  will  need 
no  handbook  to  teach  them  the  sixty-five  or  more  "  serments 
espaignols"  on  which  Mons.  de  Brantome  wrote  a  treatise.  More 
becoming  will  it  be  to  the  English  gentleman  to  swear  not  at  all ; 
a  reasonable  indulgence  in  Caramba  is  all  that  can  be  permitted ; 
the  custom  is  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance, 
anjj  bad  luck  seldom  deserts  the  house  of  the  imprecator.  "  En 
la  casa  del  que  jura,  nofalta  desaventura." 

Previously  to  hiring  one  of  these  "coaches  of  collars,"  which 
is  rather  *an  expensive  amusement,  every  possible  precaution 
should  be  taken  in  clearly  and  minutely  specifying  everything  to 
be  done,  and  the  price  ;  the  Spanish  "  caleseros "  rival  their 

head-quarters  for  charms  and  coral  amulets :  all  the  learning  has  been  col- 
lected by  the  Canon  Jorio  and  the  Marques  Arditi. 


68  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

Italian  colleagues  in  that  untruth,  roguery,  and  dishonesty,  which 
seem  everywhere  to  combine  readily  with  jockyeship,  and  distin- 
guishes those  who  handle  the  whip,  "  do  jobbings,"  and  conduct 
mortals  by  horses  ;  the  fee  to  be  given  to  the  drivers  should  never 
be  included  in  the  bargain,  as  the  keeping  this  important  item 
open  and  dependent  on  the  good  behavior  of  the  future  recipients 
offers  a  sure  check  over  master  and  man,  and  other  road-classes. 
In  justice,  however,  to  this  class  of  Spaniards,  it  may  be  said  that 
on  the  whole  they  are  civil,  good-humored,  and  hard-working, 
and,  from  not  having  been  accustomed  to  either  the  screw  bargain- 
ing or  alternate  extravagance  of  the  English  travellers  in  Italy, 
are  as  tolerably  fair  in  their  transactions  as  can  be  expected  from 
human  nature  brought  in  constant  contact  with  four-legged  and 
four-wheeled  temptations.  They  offer  to  the  artist  an  endless 
subject  of  the  picturesque ;  everything  connected  with  them 
is  full  of  form,  color,  and  originality.  They  can  do  nothing, 
whether  sitting,  driving,  sleeping  or  eating,  that  does  not  make  a 
picture ;  the  same  may  be  said  of  their  animals  and  their  habits 
and  harness  ;  those  who  draw  will  never  find  the  midday  halt  long 
enough  for  the  infinite  variety  of  subject  and  scenery  to  which 
their  travelling  equipage  and  attendants  form  the  most  peculiar 
and  appropriate  foreground  :  while  our  modern  poetasters  will 
consider  them  quite  as  worthy  of  being  sung  in  immortal  verse 
as  the  Cambridge  carrier  Hobson,  who  was  Milton's  choice. 


THE  ANDALUCIAN  HORSE. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Spanish  Horses — Mules — Asses — Muleteers — Maragatos. 

WE  now  proceed  to  Spanish  quadrupeds,  having  placed  the 
wheel-carriages  before  the  horses.  That  of  Andalucia  takes  pre- 
cedence of  all ;  he  fetches  the  highest  price,  and  the  Spaniards  in 
general  value  no  other  breed  ;  they  consider  his  configuration 
and  qualities  as  perfect,  and  in  some  respects  they  are  right,  for 
no  horse  is  more  elegant  or  more  easy  in  his  motions,  none  are 
more  gentle  or  docile,  none  are  more  quick  in  acquiring  showy 
accomplishments,  or  in  performing  feats  of  Astleyan  agility ;  he 
has  very  little  in  common  with  the  English  blood-horse  ;  his  mane 
is  soft  and  silky,  and  is  frequently  plaited  with  gay  ribbons;  his 
tail  is  of  great  length,  and  left  in  all  the  proportions  of  nature,  not 
cropped  and  docked,  by  which  Voltaire  was  so  much  offended  : — 

"  Fiers  et  bizarres  Anglais,  qui  des  memes  ciseaux 
Coupez  la  tete  aux  rois,  et  la  queue  aux  chevaux." 

It  often  trails  to  the  very  ground,  while  the  animal  has  perfect 
command  over  it,  lashing  it  on  every  side  as  a  gentleman  switches 
his  cane  ;  therefore,  when  on  a  journey,  it  is  usual  to  double  and 
tie  it  up,  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancient  pig-tails  of  our  sailors. 
The  Andalucian  horse  is  round  in  his  quarters,  though  inclined  to 
be  small  in  the  barrel ;  he  is  broad-chested,  and  always  carries 
his  head  high,  especially  when  going  a  good  pace ;  his  length  of 
leg  adds  to  his  height,  which  sometimes  reaches  to  sixteen  hands ; 
he  never,  however,  stretches  out  with  the  long  graceful  sweep  of 
the  English  thorough-bred ;  his  action  is  apt  to  be  loose  and 
shambling,  and  he  is  given  to  dishing  with  the  feet.  The  pace  is, 
notwithstanding,  perfectly  delightful.  From  being  very  long  in 
the  pastern,  the  motion  is  broken  as  it  were  by  the  springs  of  a 
carriage;  their  pace  is  the  peculiar  " paso  Castellano"  which  is 


70  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

• 

something  more  than  a  walk,  and  less  than  a  trot,  and  is  truly  se- 
date and  sedan-chair  like,  and  suits  a  grave  Don,  who  is  given, 
like  a  Turk,  to  tobacco  and  contemplation.  Those  Andalucian 
horses  which  fall  when  young  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  at 
Gibraltar  acquire  a  very  different  action,  and  lay  themselves  bet- 
ter down  to  their  work,  and  gain  much  more  in  speed  from  the 
English  system  of  training  than  they  would  have  done  had  they 
been  managed  by  Spaniards.  Taught  or  untaught,  this  pace  is 
most  gentlemanlike,  and  well  did  Beaumont  and  Fletcher 

"  Think  it  noble,  as  Spaniards  do  in  riding, 
In  managing  a  great  horse,  which  is  princely  j" 

and  as  has  been  said,  is  the  only  attitude  in  which  the  kings  of 
the  Spains,  true  ydtnnoi,  ought  ever  to  be  painted,  witching  the 
world  with  noble  horsemanship. 

Many  other  provinces  possess  breeds  which  are  more  useful, 
though  far  less  showy,  than  the  Andalucian.  The  horse  of  Cas- 
tile is  a  strong,  hardy  animal,  and  the  best  which  Spain  produces 
for  mounting  heavy  cavalry.  The  ponies  of  Gallicia,  although 
ugly  and  uncouth,  are  admirably  suited  to  the  wild  hilly  country 
and  laborious  population  ;  they  require  very  little  care  or  groom- 
ing, and  are  satisfied  with  coarse  food  and  Indian  corn.  The 
horses  of  Navarre,  once  so  celebrated,  are  still  esteemed  for  their 
hardy  strength  ;  they  have,  from  neglect,  degenerated  into  ponies, 
which,  however,  are  beautiful  in  form,  hardy,  docile,  sure-footed, 
and  excellent  trotters.  '  In  most  of  the  large  towns  of  Spain  there 
is  a  sort  of  market,  where  horses  are  publicly  sold ;  but  Ronda 
fair,  in  May,  is  the  great  Howden  and  Horncastle  of  the  four 
provinces  of  Seville,  Cordova,  Jaen,  and  Granada,  and  the  resort 
of  all  the  picturesque-looking  rogues  of  the  south.  The  reader 
of  Don  Quixote  need  not  be  told  that  the  race  of  Gines  Passa- 
monte  is  not  extinct ;  the  Spanish  Chalanes,  or  horse-dealers,  have 
considerable  talents ;  but  the  cleverest  is  but  a  mere  child  when 
compared  to  the  perfection  of  rascality  to  which  a  real  English 
professor  has  attained  in  the  mysteries  of  lying,  chaunting,  and 
making  up  a  horse. 

The  breeding  of  horses  was  carefully  attended  to  by  the  Span- 
ish government  previously  to  the  invasion  of  the  French,  by  whom 


MULES.  71 


the  entire  horses  and  brood-mares  were  either  killed  or  stolen,  and 
the  buildings  and  stables  burnt. 

The  saddles  used  commonly  in  Spain  are  Moorish ;  they  are 
made  with  high  peak  and  croup  behind  ;  the  stirrup-irons  are 
large  triangularly-shaped  boxes.  The  food  is  equally  Oriental, 
and  consists  of  "  barley  and  straw/'  as  mentioned  in  the  Bible. 
We  well  remember  the  horror  of  our  Andalucian  groom,  on  our 
first  reaching  Gallicia,  when  he  rushed  in,  exclaiming  that  the 
beasts  would  perish,  as  nothing  was  to  be  had  there  but  _oats  and 
hay.  After  some  difficulty  he  was  persuaded  to  see  if  they  would 
eat  it,  which  to  his  surprise  they  actually  did ;  such,  however,  is 
habit,  that  they  soon  fell  out  of  condition,  and  did  not  recover 
until  the  damp  mountains  were  quitted  for  the  arid  plains  of 
Castile. 

Spaniards  in  general  prefer  mules  and  asses  to  the  horse, 
which  is  more  delicate,  requires  greater  attention,  and  is  less 
sure-footed  over  broken  and  precipitous  ground.  The  mule  per- 
forms in  Spain  the  functions  of  the  camel  in  the  East,  and  has 
something  in  his  morale  (besides  his  physical  suitableness  to  the 
country)  which  is  congenial  to  the  character  of  his  masters ;  he 
has  the  same  self-willed  obstinacy,  the  same  resignation  under 
burdens,  the  same  singular  capability  of  endurance  of  labor, 
fatigue,  and  privation.  The  mule  has  always  been  much  used  in 
Spain,  and  the  demand  for  them  very  great ;  ye""j  from  some  mis- 
taken crotchet  of  Spanish  political  economy  (which  is  very 
Spanish,)  the  breeding,  of  the  mule  has  long  been  attempted  to  be 
prevented,  in  order  to  encourage  that  of  the  horse.  One  of  the 
reasons  alleged  was,  that  the  mule  was  a  non-reproductive  animal ; 
an  argument  which  might  or  ought  to  apply  equally  to  the  monk ; 
a  breed  for  which  Spain  could  have  shown  for  the  first  prize,  both 
as  to  number  and  size,  against  any  other  country  in  all  Christen- 
dom. This  attempt  to  force  the  production  of  an  animal  far  less 
suited  to  the  wants  and  habits  of  the  people  has  failed,  as  might 
be  expected.  The  difficulties  thrown  in  the  way  have  only 
tended  to  raise  the  prices  of  mules,  which  are,  and  always  were, 
very  dear;  a  good  mule  will  fetch  from  257.  to  50/.,  while  a 
horse  of  relative  goodness  may  be  purchased  for  from  2QL  to40Z. 
Mules  were  always  very  dear ;  thus  Martial,  like  a  true  An- 


72  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

dalucian  Spaniard,  talks  of  one  which  cost  more  tkan  a  house 
The  most  esteemed  are  those  bred  from  the  mare  and  the  ass,  or 
"garanon"*  some  of  which  are  of  extraordinary  size;  and  one 
which  Don  Carlos  had  in  his  stud-house  at  Aranjuez  in  1832  ex- 
ceeded fifteen  hands  in  height.  This  colossal  ass  and  a  Spanish 
infante  were  worthy  of  each  other. 

The  mules  in  Spain,  as  in  the  East,  have  their  coats  closely 
shorn  or  clipped  ;  part  of  the  hair  is  usually  left  on  in  stripes 
like  the^  zebra,  or  cut  into  fanciful  patterns,  like  the  tattooings  of 
a  New  Zealand  chief.  This  process  of  shearing  is  found  to  keep 
the  beast  cooler  and  freer  from  cutaneous  disorders.  The  opera- 
tion is  performed  in  the  southern  provinces  by  gipsies,  who  are 
the  same  tinkers,  horse-dealers,  and  vagrants  in  Spain  as  else- 
where. Their  clipping  recalls  the  "  mulo  curto,"  on  which 
Horace  could  amble  even  to  Brundusium.  The  operators  rival 
in  talent  those  worthy  Frenchmen  who  cut  the  hair  of  poodles  on 
the  Pont  Neuf,  in  the  heart  and  brain  of  European  civilization. 
Their  Spanish  colleagues  may  be  known  by  the  shears,  formida- 
ble and  classical-shaped  as  those  of  Lachesis  and  her  sisters, 
which  they  carry  in  their  sashes.  They  are  very  particular  in 
clipping  the  heels  and  patterns,  which  they  say  ought  to  be  as 
free  from  superfluous  hair  as  the  palm  of  a  lady's  hand. 

Spanish  asses  have  been  immortalized  by  Cervantes ;  they  are 
endeared  to  us  by  Sancho's  love  and  talent  of  imitation ;  he 
brayed  so  well,  be  it  remembered,  that  all  the  long-eared  chorus 
joined  a  performer  who,  in  his  own  modest  phrase,  only  wanted 
a  tail  to  be  a  perfect  donkey.  Spanish  mayors,  according  to  Don 
Quixote,  have  a  natural  talent  for  this  braying ;  but,  save  and 
except  in  the  west  of  England,  their  right  worshipfuls  may  be 
matched  elsewhere. 

The  humble  ass,  "  Zwrro,"  u'borrico"  is  the  rule,  the  as>in 
praesenti,  and  part  and  parcel  of  every  Spanish  scene :  he  forms 
the  appropriate  foreground  in  streets  or  roads.  Wherever  two  or 

*  The gar anon  is  also  called  "burro padre,"  ass  father,  not  " padre  burro." 
£J  Padre,"  the  prefix  of  paternity,  is  the  common  title  given  in  Spain  to  the 
clergy  and  the  monks.  "  Father  jackass"  might  in  many  instances,  when 
applied  to  the  latter,  be  too  morally  and  physically  appropriate,  to  be  con- 
sistent with  the  respect  due  to  the  celibate  co.wl  and  cassock. 


ASSES   OF  LA  MANCHA.  73 

three  Spaniards  are  collected  together  in  market,  junta,  or  "  congre- 
gation," there  is  quite  sure  to  be  an  ass  among  them ;  he  is  the 
hard  worked  companion  of  the  lower  orders,  to  whom  to  work  is 
the  greatest  misfortune ;  sufferance  is  indeed  the  common  virtu* 
of  both  tribes.  They  may,  perhaps,  both  wince  a  little  when  f 
new  burden  or  a  new  tax  is  laid  on  them  by  Senor  Mon,  but  the} 
soon,  when  they  see  that  there  is  no  remedy,  bear  on  and  endure 
from  this  fellow-feeling,  master  and  animal  cherish  each  other  a 
heart,  though,  from  the  blows  and  imprecations  bestowed  openly, 
the  former  may  be  thought  by  hasty  observers  to  be  ashamed  of 
confessing  these  predilections  in  public.  Some  under-current, 
no  doubt,  remains  in  the  ancient  prejudices  of  chivalry ;  but 
Cervantes,  who  thoroughly  understood  human  nature  in  general, 
and  Spanish  nature  in  particular,  has  most  justly  dwelt  on  the 
dear  love  which  Sancho  Panza  felt  for  his  "  Rucio"  and  marked 
the  reciprocity  of  the  brute,  affectionate  as  intelligent.  In  fact, 
in  the  Sagra  district,  near  Toledo,  he  is  called  El  vecino,  one  of 
the  householders;  and  none  can  look  a  Spanish  ass -in  the  face 
without  remarking  a  peculiar  expression,  which  indicates  that  the 
hairy  fool  considers  himself,  like  the  pig  in  a  cabin  of  the  "  first 
gem  of  the  sea,"  to  be  one  of  the  family,  de  la  familia,  or  de 
nosotros.  La  Mancha  is  the  paradise  of  mules  and  asses  •  many 
a  Sancho  at  this  moment  is  there  fondling  and  embracing  his  ass, 
his  "  chato  chatito,"  "  romo,"  or  other  complimentary  variations 
of  Snub,  with  which,  when  not  abusing  him,  he  delights  to  nick- 
name his  helpmate.  In  Spain,  as  Sappho  says,  Love  is  ylvxv. 
THX^O^,  an  alteration  of  the  agro-dolce ;  nor  is  there  any  Preven- 
tion of  Cruelty  Society  towards  animals ;  every  Spaniard  has  the 
same  right  in  law  and  equity  to  kick  and  beat  his  own  ass  to  his 
own  liking,  as  a  philanthropic  Yankee  has  to  wallop  his  own 
riiggar ;  no  one  ever  thinks  of  interposing  on  these  occasions,  any 
more  than  they  would  in  a  quarrel  between  a  man  and  his  wife. 
The  words  are,  at  all  events,  on  one  side.  It  is,  however,  record- 
ed  in  piam  memoriam,  of  certain  Roman  Catholic  asses  of  Spain, 
that  they  tried  to  throw  off  one  Tomas  Trebino  and  some  other 
heretics,  when  on  their  way  to  be  burnt,  being  horror-struck  at 
bearing  such  monsters.  Every  Spanish  peasant  is  heart-broken 
when  injury  is  done  to  his  ass,  as  well  he  may  be,  for  it  is  the 
PART  i.  5 


74  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

means  by  which  he  lives ;  nor  has  he  much  chance,  if  he  loses 
him,  of  finding  a  crown  when  hunting  for  him,  as  was  once  done,v 
or  even  a  government  like  Sancho.  Sterne  would  have  done  bet- 
ter to  have  laid  the  venue  of  his  sentimentalities  over  a  dead  ass 
in  Spain,  rather  than  in  France,  where  the  quadruped  species  is 
much  rarer.  In  Spain,  where  small  carts  and  wheelbarrows  are 
almost  unknown,  and  the  drawing  them  is  considered  as  beneath 
the  dignity  of  the  Spanish  man,  the  substitute,  an  ass,  is  in  constant 
employ  ;  sometimes  it  is  laden  with  sacks  of  corn,  with  wine-skins, 
with  water-jars,  with  dung  or  with  dead  robbers,  slung  like  sacks 
over  the  back,  their  arms  and  legs  tied  under  the  animal's  belly. 
Asses'  milk,  "  leche  de  burra,"  is  in  much  request  during  the  spring 
season.  The  brown  sex  drink  it  in  order  to  fine  their  complex- 
ions and  cool  their  blood,  "  refrescar  la  sangre  ;"  the  clergy  and 
men  in  office,  "los  empleados"  to  whom  it  is  mother's  milk, 
swallow  it  in  order  that  it  may  give  tone  to  their  gastric  juices. 
Riding  on  assback  was  accounted  a  disgrace  and  a  degradation  to 
the  Gothic  hidalgo,  and  the  Spaniards,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
mounted  unrepining  cuckolds,  "  los  cornudos  pacientes"  on  asses. 
Now-a-days,  in  spite  of  all  these  unpleasant  associations,  the 
grandees  and  their  wives,  and  even  grave  ambassadors  from  for- 
eign parts,  during  the  royal  residence  at  Aranjuez,  much  delight 
in  elevating  themselves  on  this  beast  of  ill  omen,  and  "  borricadas" 
or  donkey  parties  are  all  the  fashion. 

The  muleteer  of  Spain  is  justly  renowned  ;  his  generic  term 
is  arriero,  a  gee-uper,  for  his  arre  arre  is  pure  Arabic,  as  indeed 
are  almost  all  the  terms  connected  with  his  craft,  as  the  Moris- 
coes  were  long  the  great  carriers  of  Spain.  To  travel  with  the 
muleteer,  when  the  party  is  small  or  a  person  is  alone,  is  both 
cheap  and  safe  ;  indeed,  many  of  the  most  picturesque  portions  of 
Spain,  Ronda  and  Granada,  for  instance,  can  scarcely  be  reached 
except  by  walking  or  riding.  These  men,  who  are  constantly 
on  the  road,  and  going  backwards  and  forwards,  are  the  best  per- 
sons to  consult  for  details  ;  their  animals  are  generally  to  be 
hired,  but  a  muleteer's  stud  is  not  pleasant  to  ride,  since  their 
beasts  always  travel  in  single  files.  The  leading  animal  is  fur- 
nished with  a  copper  bell  with  a  wooden  clapper,  to  give  notice 
of  their  miirch,  which  is  shaped  like  an  ice-mould,  sometimes  two 


THE  MULETEER.  75 


feet  long,  and  hangs  from  the  neck,  being  contrived,  as  it  were,  on 
purpose  to  knock  the  animal's  knees  as  much  as  possible,  and  to 
emit  the  greatest  quantity  of  the  most  melancholy  sounds,  which, 
according  to  the  pious  origin  of  all  bells,  were  meant  to  scare 
away  the  Evil  One.  The  bearer  of  all  this  tintinnabular  clatter 
is  chosen  from  its  superior  docility  and  knack  in  picking  out  a 
way.  The  others  follow  their  leader,  and  the  noise  he  makes 
when  they  cannot  see  him.  They  are  heavily  but  scientifically 
laden.  The  cargo  of  each  is  divided  into  three  portions  ;  one 
is  tied  on  each  side,  and  the  other  placed  between.  If  the  cargo 
be  not  nicely  balanced,  the  muleteer  either  unloads  or  adds  a  few 
stones  to  the  lighter  portion — the  additional  weight  being  com- 
pensated by  the  greater  comfort  with  which  a  well-poised  burden 
is  carried.  These  "  sumpter"  mules  are  gaily  decorated  with 
trappings  full  of  color  and  tags.  The  head-gear  is  composed  of 
different  colored  worsteds,  to  which  a  multitude  of  small  bells  are 
affixed  ;  hence  the  saying,  "  muger  de  mucha  campanilla"  a  wo- 
man of  many  bells,  of  much  show,  much  noise,  or  pretension. 
The  muleteer  either  walks  by  the  side  of  his  animal  or  sits  aloft 
on  the  cargo,  with  his  feet  dangling  on  the  neck,  a  seat  which  is 
by  no  means  so  uncomfortable  as  it  would  appear.  A  rude  gun, 
"  but  'twill  serve,"  and  is  loaded  wth  slugs,  hangs  always  in 
readiness  by  his  side,  and  often  with  it  a  guitar  ;  these  emblems 
of  life  and  death  paint  the  unchanged  reckless  condition  of  Iberia, 
where  extremes  have  ever  met,  where  a  man  still  goes  out  of  the 
world  like  a  swan,  with  a  song.  Thus  accoutred,  as  Byron  says, 
with  "  all  that  gave,  promise  of  pleasure  or  a  grave,"  the  ap- 
proach of  the  caravan  is  announced  from  afar  by  his  cracked  or 
guttural  voice  :  "  How  carols  now  the  lusty  muleteer  !"  For 
when  not  engaged  in  swearing  or  smoking,  the  livelong  day  is 
passed  in  one  monotonous  high-pitched  song,  the  tune  of  which  is 
little  in  harmony  with  the  import  of  the  words,  or  his  cheerful 
humor,  being  most  unmusical  and  melancholy  ;  but  such  is  the 
true  type  of  Oriental  melody,  as  it  is  called.  The  same  absence 
of  thought  which  is  shown  in  England  by  whistling  is  displayed 
in  Spain  by  singing.  "Quien  canta  sus  males  espanta  :"  he  who 
sings  frightens  away  ills,  a  philosophic  consolation  in  travel  as 
old  and  as  classical  as  Virgil :  "  Cantantes  licet  usque,  minus  via 


76  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR   COUNTRY. 

tsedet,  eamus,"  which  may  be  thus  translated  for  the  benefit  of 
country  gentlemen : — 

If  we  join  in  doleful  chorus, 

The  dull  highway  will  much  less  bore  us. 

The  Spanish  muleteer  is  a  fine  fellow  ;  he  is  intelligent,  active 
and  enduring  ;  he  braves  hunger  and  thirst,  heat  and  cold,  mud 
and  dust ;  he  works  as  hard  as  his  cattle,  never  robs  or  is  robbed ; 
and  while  his  betters  in  this  land  put  off  everything  till  to-morrow 
except  bankruptcy,  he  is  punctual  and  honest,  his  frame  is  wiry 
and  sinewy,  his  costume  peculiar ;  many  are  the  leagues  and 
long,  which  we  have  ridden  in  his  caravan,  and  longer  his  robber 
yarns,  to  which  we  paid  no  attention;  and  it  must  be  admitted 
that  these  cavalcades  are  truly  national  and  picturesque.  Min- 
gled with  droves  of  mules  and  mounted  horsemen,  the  z:g-zag 
lines  come  threading  down  the  mountain  defiles,  now  tracking 
through  the  aromatic  brushwood,  now  concealed  amid  rocks  and 
olive-trees,  now  emerging  bright  and  glittering  into  the  sunshine, 
giving  life  and  movement  to  the  lonely  nature,  and  breaking  the 
usual  stillness  by  the  tinkle  of  the  oefl  and  the  sad  ditty  of  the 
muleteer — sounds  which,  though  unmusical  in  themselves,  are  in 
keeping  with  the  scene, .  and  associated  with  wild  Spanish  ram- 
bles,  just  as  the  harsh  whetting  of  the  scythe  is  mixed  up  with  the 
sweet  spring  and  newly-mown  hay-meadow. 

There  is  one  class  of  muleteers  which  are  but  little  known  to 
European  travellers — the  Maragatos,  whose  head-quarters  are  at 
San  Roman,  near  Astorga ;  they,  like  the  Jew  and  gipsy,  live 
exclusively  among  their  own  people,  preserving  their  primeval 
costume  and  customs,  and  never  marrying  out  of  their  own  tribe. 
They  are  as  perfectly  nomad  and  wandering  as  the  Bedouins,  the 
mule  only  being  substituted  for  the  camel ;  their  honesty  and  in- 
dustry are  proverbial.  They  are  a  sedate,  grave,  dry,  matter-of- 
fact,  business-like  people.  Their  charges  are  high,  but  the  se- 
curity counterbalances,  as  they  may  be  trusted  with  untold  gold. 
They  are  the  channels  of  all  traffic  between  Gallicia  and  the 
Castiles,  being  seldom  seen  in  the  south  or  east  provinces.  They 
are  dressed  in  leathern  jerkins,  which  fit  tightly  like  a  cuirass, 
leaving  the  arms  free.  Their  linen  is  coarse  but  white,  espe. 


COSTUME   OF   THE   MARAGATOS.  77 

cially  the  shirt  collar ;  a  broad  leather  belt,  in  which  there  is  a 
purse,  is  fastened  round  the  waist.  Their  breeches,  like  those 
of  the  Valencians,  are  called  Zaraguelks,  a  pure  Arabic  word 
for  kilts  or  wide  drawers,  and  no  burgomaster  of  Rembrandt  is 
more  broad-bottomed.  Their  legs  aro  encased  in  long  brown 
cloth  gaiters,  with  red  garters  ;  their  hair  is  generally  cut  close 
— sometimes,  however,  strange  tufts  are  left.  A  huge,  slouch- 
ing, Happing  hat  completes  the  most  inconvenient  of  travelling 
dresses,  and  it  is  too  Dutch  to  be  even  picturesque ;  but  these 
fashions  are  as  unchangeable  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians were  ;  nor  will  any  Maragato  dream  of  altering  his  costume 
until  those  dressed  models  of  painted  wood  do  which  strike  the 
hours  of  the  clock  on  the  square  of  Astorga  ;  Pedro  MatOj  also, 
another  figure  costumte,  who  holds  a  weathercock  at  the  cathe- 
dral, is  the  observed  of  all  observers  ;  and,  in  truth,  this  particu- 
lar costume  is,  as  that  of  Quakers  used  to  be,  a  guarantee  of  their 
tribe  and  respectability  ;  thus  even  Cordero,  the  rich  Maragato 
deputy,  appeared  in  Cortes  in  this  local  costume. 

The  dress  of  the  Maragata  is  equally  peculiar;  she  w^ars,  if 
married,  a  sort  of  head-gear,  El  Caramietto,  in  the  shape  of  a 
crescent,  the  round  part  coming  over  the  forehead,  which  is  very 
Moorish,  and  resembles  those  of  the  females  in  the  basso-rilievos 
at  Granada.  Their  hair  flows  loosely  on  their  shoulders,  while 
their  apron  or  petticoat  hangs  down  open  before  and  behind,  and 
is  curiously  tied  at  the  back  with  a  sash,  and  their  bodice  is  cut 
square  over  the  bosom.  At  their  festivals  they  are  covered  with 
ornaments  of  long  chains  of  coral  and  metal,  with  crosses,  relics, 
and  medals  jin  silver.  Their  earrings  are  very  heavy,  and  sup- 
ported by  silken  threads,  as  among  the  Jewesses  in  Barbary.  A 
marriage  is  a  grand  feast ;  then  large  parties  assemble,  and  a 
president  is  chosen,  who  puts  into  a  waiter  whatever  sum  of 
money  he  likes,  and  all  invited  must  then  give  as  much.  The 
bride  is  enveloped  in  a  mantle,  which  she  wears  the  whole  day, 
and  never  again  except  on  that  of  her  husband's  death.  She 
does  not  dance  at  the  wedding-ball.  Early  next  morning  twt 
roast  chickens  are  brought  to  the  bed-side  of  the  happy  pair 
The  next  evening  ball  is  opened  by  the  bride  and  her  husband 
to  the  tune  of  the  gaita,  or  Moorish  bagpipe.  Their  dances  ar 


78  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

grave  and  serious ;  such  indeed  is  their  whole  character.  The 
Maragatos,  with  their  honest,  weather-beaten  countenances,  are 
seen  with  files  of  mules  all  along  the  high  road  to  La  Coruna. 
They  generally  walk,  and,  like  other  Spanish  arrieros,  although 
they  sing  and  curse  rather  less,  are  employed  in  one  ceaseless 
shower  of  stones  and  blows  at  their  mules. 

The  whole  tribe  assembles  twice  a  year  at  Astorga,  at  the 
feasts  of  Corpus  and  the  Ascension,  when  they  dance  El  Canizo, 
beginning  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  ending  precisely 
at  three.  If  any  one  not  a  Maragato  joins,  they  all  leave  off  im- 
mediately. The  women  never  wander  from  their  homes,  which 
their  undomestic  husbands  always  do.  They  lead  the  hardworked 
life  of  the  Iberian  females  of  old,  and  now,  as  then,  are  to  be  seen 
everywhere  in  these  west  provinces  toiling  in  the  fields,  early 
before  the  sun  has  risen,  and  late  after  it  has  set ;  and  it  is  most 
painful  to  behold  them  drudging  at  these  unfeminine  vocations. 

The  origin  of  the  Maragatos  has  never  been  ascertained.  Some 
consider  them  to  be  a  remnant  of  the  Celtiberian,  others  of  the 
Visigoths;  most,  however,  prefer  a  Bedouin,  or  caravan  descent, 
It  is  in  vain  to  question  these  ignorant  carriers  as  to  their  history 
or  origin  ;  for  like  the  gipsies,  they  have  no  traditions,  and  know 
nothing.  Arrieros,  at  all  events,  they  are;  and  that  word,  in 
common  with  so  many  others  relating  to  the  barb  and  carrier-cara- 
van craft,  is  Arabic,  and  proves  whence  the  system  and  science 
were  derived  by  Spaniards. 

The  Maragatos  are  celebrated  for  their  fine  beasts  of  burden ; 
indeed  the  mules  of  Leon  are  renowned,  and  the  asses  splendid 
and  numerous,  especially  the  nearer  one  approaches  to  the  learned 
university  of  Salamanca.  The  Maragatos  take  precedence  on 
the  road ;  they  are  the  lords  of  the  highway,  being  the  channels 
of  commerce  in  a  land  where  mules  and  asses  represent  luggage 
rail  trains.  They  know  and  feel  their  importance,  and  that  they 
are  the  rule,  and  the  traveller  for  mere  pleasure  is  the  exception. 
Few  Spanish  muleteers  are  much  more  polished  than  their  beasts, 
and  however  picturesque  the  scene,  it  is  no  joke  meeting  a  string 
of  laden  beasts  in  a  narrow  road,  especially  with  a  precipice  on 
one  side,  cosa  de  Espana.  The  Maragatos  seldom  give  way,  and 
their  mules  keep  doggedly  on ;  as  the  baggage  projects  on  each 


TRAVELLING  IN   THE   INTERIOR.  79 


side,  like  the  paddles  of  a  steamer,  they  sweep  the  whole  path. 
But  all  wayfaring  details  in  the  genuine  Spanish  interior  are  cal- 
culated for  the  packj  as  in  England  a  century  back ;  and  there  is 
no  thought  bestowed  on  the  foreigner,  who  is  not  wanted,  nay  is 
disliked.  The  inns,  roads,  and  right  sides,  suit  the  natives  and 
their  brutes ;  nor  will  either  put  themselves  out  of  their  way  to 
please  the  fancies  of  a  stranger.  The  racy  Peninsula  is  too  little 
travelled  over  for  its  natives  to  adopt  the  mercenary  conveniences 
of  the  Swiss,  that  nation  of  innkeepers  and  coach-jobbers. 


80  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Riding  Tour  in  Spain — Pleasures  of  it — Pedestrian  Tour — Choice  of  Com- 
panions— Rules  for  a  Riding  Tour — Season  of  year — Day's  journey — 
Management  of  Horse  j  his  Feet ;  Shoes  ;  General  Hints. 

A  MAN  in  a  public  carriage  ceases  to  be  a  private  individual : 
he  is  merged  into  the  fare,  and  becomes  a  number  according  to 
his  place ;  he  is  booked  like  a  parcel,  and  is  delivered  by  the 
guard.  How  free,  how  lord  and  master  of  himself,  does  the 
same  dependent  gentleman  mount  his  eager  barb,  who  by  his 
neighing  and  pawing  exhibits  his  joyful  impatience  to  be  off  too  ! 
How  fresh  and  sweet  the  free  breath  of  heaven,  after  the  frousty 
atmosphere  of  a  full  inside  of  foreigners,  who,  from  the  narcotic 
effects  of  tobacco,  forget  the  existence  of  soap,  water,  and  clean 
linen  !  Travelling  on  horseback,  so  unusual  a  gratification  to 
Englishmen,  is  the  ancient,  primitive,  and  once  universal  mode 
of  travelling  in  Europe,  as  it  still  is  in  the  East;  mankind,  how- 
ever,  soon  gets  accustomed  to  a  changed  state  of  locomotion,  and 
forgets  how  recent  is  its  introduction.  Fynes  Moryson  gave  much 
the  same  advice  two  centuries  ago  to  travellers  in  England,  as 
must  be  now  suggested  to  those  who  in  Spain  desert  the  coach- 
beaten  highways  for  the  delightful  bye-ways,  and  thus  explore 
the  rarely  visited,  but  not  the  least  interesting  portions  of  the  Pen- 
insula. It  has  been  our  good  fortune  to  perform  many  of  these 
Qxpeditions  on  horseback,  both  alone  and  in  company ;  and  on 
one  occasion  to  have  made  the  pilgrirnage  from  Seville  to  Santi- 
ago, through  Estremadura  and  Gallicia.  returning  by  the  As- 
turias,  Biscay,  Leon,  and  the  Castiles  ;  thus  riding  nearly  two 
thousand  miles  on  the  same  horse,  and  only  accompanied  by  one 
Andalucian  servant,  who  had  never  before  gone  out  of  his  native 
province.  The  same  tour  was  afterwards  performed  by  two 
friends  with  two  servants ;  nor  did  they  or  ourselves  ever  meet 


ROYAL   ROADS.  81 


with  any  real  impediments  or  difficulties,  scarcely  indeed  suffi- 
cient of  either  to  give  the  flavor  of  adventure,  or  the  dignity  of 
danger,  to  the  undertaking.  It  has  also  been  our  lot  to  make  an 
extended  tour  of  many  months,  accompanied  by  an  English  lady, 
through  Granada,  Murcia,  Valencia,  Catalonia,  and  Arragon,  to 
say  nothing  of  repeated  excursions  through  every  nook  and  corner 
of  Andalucia.  The  result  of  all  this  experience,  combined  with 
that  of  many  friends,  who  have  ridden  over  the  Peninsula,  enables 
us  to  recommend  this  method  to  the  young,  healthy,  and  adven- 
turous, as  by  far  the  most  agreeable  plan  of  proceeding  ;  and, 
indeed,  as  we  have  said,  as  regards  two-thirds  of  the  Peninsula, 
the  only  practicable  course. 

The  leading  royal  roads  which  connect  the  capital  with  the 
principal  seaports  are,  indeed,  excellent ;  but  they  are  generally 
drawn  in  a  straight  line,  whereby  many  of  the  most  ancient 
cities  are  thus  left  out,  and  these,  together  with  sites  of  battles 
and  historical  incident,  ruins  and  remains  of  antiquity,  and  scenes 
of  the  greatest  natural  beauty,  are  accessible  with  difficulty,  and 
in  many  cases  only  on  horseback.  Spain  abounds  with  wide 
tracts  which  are  perfectly  unknown  to  the  Geographical  Society. 
Here,  indeed,  is  fresh  ground  open  to  all  who  aspire  in  these 
threadbare  days  to  book  something  new  ;  here  is  scenery  enough 
to  fill  a  dozen  portfolios,  and  subject  enough  for  a  score  of  quar- 
tos. How  many  flowers  pine  unbotanized,  how  many  rocks 
harden  ungeologized  ;  what  views  are  dying  to  be  sketched ; 
what  bears  and  deer  to  be  stalked  ;  what  trout  to  be  caught  and 
eaten ;  what  valleys  expand  their  bosoms,  longing  to  embrace 
their  visitor ;  what  virgin  beauties  hitherto  unseen  await  •  the 
happy  member  of  the  Travellers'  Club,  who  in  ten  days  can  ex- 
change the  bore  of  eternal  Pall  Mall  for  these  untrodden  sites ; 
and  then  what  an  accession  of  dignity  in  thus  discovering  a  terra 
incognita,  and  rivalling  Mr.  Mungo  Park  !  •  Nor  is  a  guide  want- 
ing, since  our  good  friend  John  Murray,  the  grand  monarque  of 
Handbooks,  has  proclaimed  from  Albemarle  Street,  //  n'y  a  plus 
de  Pyrenees. 

As  the  wide  extent  of  country  which  intervenes  between  the 
radii  of  the  great  roads  is  most  indifferently  provided  with  public 
means  of  inter-communication ;  as  there  is  little  traffic,  and  no 

5* 


82  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

demand  for  modern  conveyances — even  mules  and  horses  are  not 
always  to  be  procured,  and  we  have  always  found  it  best  to  set 
out  on  these  distant  excursions  with  our  own  beasts :  the  com- 
fort and  certainty  of  this  precaution  have  been  corroborated  her 
yond  any  doubt  by  frequent  comparisons  with  the  discomforts 
undergone  by  other  persons,  who  trusted  to  chance  accommoda- 
tions and  means  of  locomotion  in  ill-provided  districts  and  out- 
of-the-way  excursions :  'indeed,  as  a  general  rule,  the  traveller 
will  do  well  to  carry  with  him  everything  with  which  from  habit 
he  feels  that  he  cannot  dispense.  The  chief  object  will  be  to 
combine  in  as  small  a  space  as  possible  the  greatest  quantity  of 
portable  comfort,  taking  care  to  select  the  really  essential ;  for 
there  is  no  worse  mistake  than  lumbering  oneself  with  things 
that  are  never  wanted.  This  mode  of  travelling  has  not  been 
much  detailed  by  the  generality  of  authors,  who  have  rarely  gone 
much  out  of  the  beaten  track,  or  undertaken  a  long-continued 
riding  tour,  and  they  have  been  rather  inclined  to  overstate  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  a  plan  which  they  have  never  tried. 
At  the  same  time  this  plan  is  not  to  be  recommended  to  fine  ladies 
nor  to  delicate  gentlemen,  nor  to  those  who  have  had  a  touch  of 
rheumatism,  or  who  tremble  at  the  shadows  which  coming  gout 
casts  before  it. 

Those  who  have  endurance  and  curiosity  euough  to  face  a  tour 
in  Sicily,  may  readily  set  out  for  Spain  ;  rails  and  post-horses 
certainly  get  quicker  over  the  country  ;  but  the  pleasure  of  the 
remembrance  and  the  benefits  derived  by  travel  are  commonly  in 
an  inverse  ratio  to  the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  the  journey 
is  performed.  In  addition  to  the  accurate  knowledge  which  is 
thus  acquired  of  the  country  (for  there  is  no  map  like  this  mode 
of  surveying),  and  an  acquaintance  with  a  considerable,  and  by 
no  means  the  worst  portion  of  its  population,  a  riding  expedition 
to  a  civilian  is  almost  equivalent  to  serving  a  campaign.  It  im- 
parts a  new  life,  which  is  adopted  on  the  spot,  and  which  soon 
appears  quite  natural,  from  being  in  perfect  harmony  and  fitness 
with  everything  around,  howevei  strange  to  all  previous  habits 
and  notions ;  it  takes  the  conceit  cut  of  a  man  for  the  rest  of  his 
life — it  makes  him  bear  and  forbear.  It  is  a  capital  practical 
school  of  moral  discipline,  just  as  the  hardiest  mariners  are  nur- 


HEALTHFUL  EXERCISE. 


tured  in  the  roughest  seas.  Then  and  there  will  be  learnt 
golden  rules  of  patience,  perseverance,  good  temper,  and  good 
fellowship :  the  individual  man  must  come  out,  for  better  or 
worse.  On  these  occasions,  where  wealth  and  rank  are  stripped 
of  the  aids  and  appurtenances  of  conventional  superiority,  a  man 
will  draw  more  on  his  own  resources,  moral  and  physical,  than  on 
any  letter  of  credit ;  his  wit  will  be  sharpened  by  invention-sug- 
gesting necessity. 

Then  and  there,  when  up,  about,  and  abroad',  will  be  shaken 
off  dull  sloth  ;  action — Demosthenic  action — will  be  the  watch- 
word. The  traveller  will  blot  out  from  his  dictionary  the  fatal 
Spanish  phrase  of  procrastination  by-and-ty,  a  street  which  leads 
to  the  house  of  never,  for  "por  la  calle  de  despues,  se  va  a  la  casa 
de  nunca."  Reduced  to  shift  for  himself,  he  will  see  the  evil  of 
waste — the  folly  of  improvidence  and  want  of  order.  He  will 
whistle  to  the  winds  the  paltry  excuse  of  idleness,  the  Spanish 
"no  se  puede"  "  it  is  impossible"  He  will  soon  learn,  by 
grappling  with  difficulties,  how  surely  they  are  overcome, — how 
soft  as  silk  becomes  the  nettle  when  it  is  sternly  grasped,  which 
would  sting  the  tender-handed  touch, — how  powerful  a  principle 
of  realizing  the  object  proposed,  is  the  moral  conviction  that  we 
can  and  will  accomplish  it.  He  will  never  be  scared  by  shadows 
"thin  as  air,  for  when  one  door  shuts  another  opens,  and  he  who 
pushes  on  arrives.  And  after  all,  a  dash  of  hardship  may  be  en- 
dured by  those  accustomed  to  loll  in  easy  britzskas,  if  only  for 
the  sake  of  novelty ;  what  a  new  relish  is  given  to  the  palled  ap- 
petite by  a  little  unknown  privation ! — hunger  being,  as  Cervan- 
tes says,  the  best  of  sauces,  which,  as  it  never  is  wanting  to  the 
poor,  is  the  reason  why  eating  is  their  huge  delight. 

Again,  these  sorts  of  independent  expeditions  are  equally  con- 
ducive to  health  of  body :  after  the  first  few  days  of  the  new  fa- 
tigue are  got  over,  the  frame  becomes  of  iron,  "  hechode  bronze," 
and  the  rider,  a  centaur  not  fabulous.  The  living  in  the  pure 
air,  the  sustaining  excitement  of  novelty,  exercise,  and  constant 
occupation,  are  all  sweetened  by  the  willing  heart,  which  renders 
even  labor  itself  a  pleasure ;  a  new  and  vigorous  life  is  infused 
into  every  bone  and  muscle :  early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise,  if  it 
does  not  make  all  brains  wise,  at  least  invigorates  the  gastric  juices 


84  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

makes  a  man  forget  that  he  has  a  liver,  that  storehouse  of  mortal 
misery — bile,  blue  pill,  and  blue  devils.  This  health  is  one  of 
the  secrets  of  t]ae  amazing  charm  which  seems  inherent  to  this 
mode  of  travelling,  in  spite  of  all  the  apparent  hardships  with 
which  it  is  surrounded  in  the  abstract.  Oh  !  the  delight  of  this 
gipsy,  Bedouin,  nomade  life,  seasoned  with  unfettered 'liberty  ! 
We  pitch  our  tent  wherever  we  please,  and  there  we  make  our 
home — far  from  letters  "  requiring  an  immediate  answer,"  and 
distant  dining-outs,  visits,  ladies'  maids,  band-boxes,  butlers, 
bores,  and  button-holders. 

Escaping  from  the  meshes  of  the  west  end  of  London,  we  are 
transported  into  a  new  world  ;  every  day  the  out-of-door  pan- 
orama is  varied  ;  now  the  heart  is  cheered  and  the  countenance 
made  glad  by  gazing  on  plains  overflowing  with  milk  and  honey, 
or  laughing  with  oil  and  wine,  where  the  orange  and  citron  bask 
in  the  glorious  sunbeams,  the  palm  without  the  desert,  the  sugar- 
cane without,  the  slave.  Anon  we  are  lost  amid  the  silence  of 
cloud-capped  glaciers,  where  rock  and  granite  are  tost  about  like 
the  fragments  of  a  broken  world,  by  the  wild  magnificence  of 
Nature,  who,  careless  of  mortal  admiration,  lavishes  with  proud 
indifference  her  fairest  charms  where  most  unseen,  her  grandest 
forms  where  most  inaccessible.  Every  day  and  every  where  we 
are  unconsciously  founding  a  stock  of  treasures  and  pleasures  of 
memory,  to  be  hived  in  our  bosoms  like  the  honey  of  the  bee,  to 
cheer  and  sweeten  our  after  life,  when  we  settle  down  like  wine- 
dregs  in  our  cask,  which,  delightful  even  as  in  the  reality,  wax 
stronger  as  we  grow  in  years,  and  feel  that  these  feats  of  our 
youth,  like  sweet  youth  itself,  can  never  be  our  portion  again. 
Of  one  thing  the  reader  may  be  assured, — that  dear  will  be  to 
him.  as  is  now»to  us,  the  remembrance  of  those  wild  and  weary 
rides  through  tawny  Spain,  where  hardship  was  forgotten  ere 
undergone :  those  sweet-aired  hills — those  rocky  crags  and  tor- 
rents— those  fresh  valleys  which  communicated  their  own  fresh- 
ness to  the  heart — that  keen  relish  for  hard  fare,  gained  and 
seasoned  by  hunger  sauce,  which  Ude  did  not  invent — those  sound 
slumbers  on  harder  couch,  earned  by  fatigue,  the  downiest  of 
pillows — the  braced  nerves — the  spirits  light,  elastic,  and  joyous 
— that  freedom  from  care — that  health  of  body  and  soul  which 


DELIGHTS   OF  A  TOUR.  85 


ever  rewards  a  close  communion  with  Nature — and  the  shuffling 
off  of  the  frets  and  factitious  wants  of  the  thick-pent  artificial  city. 
Whatever  be  the  number  of  the  party,  and  however  they  travel, 
whether  on  wheels  or  horseback,  admitting  even  that  a  pleasant 
friend  pro  vehiculo  est,  that  is,  better  than  a  post-chaise,  yet  no 
one  should  ever  dream  of  making  a  pedestrian  tour  in  Spain.  It 
seldom  answers  anywhere,  as  the  walker  arrives  at  the  object  of 
his  promenade  tired  and  hungry  ,  just  at  the  moment  when  he 
ought  to  be  the  freshest  and  most  up  to  intellectual  pleasures. 
The  deipnosophist  Athenseus  long  ago  discovered  that  there  was 
no  love  for  the  sublime  and  beautiful  in  an  empty  stomach, 
aesthetics  yield  then  to  gastronomies,  and  there  is  no  prospect  in 
the  world  so  fine  as  that  of  a  dinner  and  a  nap,  or  siesta  afterwards. 
The  pedestrian  in  Spain,  where  fleshly  comforts  are  rare,  will 
soon  understand  why,  in  the  real  journals  of  our  Peninsular  sol- 
diers, so  little  attention  is  paid  to  those  objects  which  most  attract 
the  well  provided  traveller.  In  cases  of  bodily  hardship,  the  em- 
ployment of  the  mental  faculties  is  narrowed  into  the  care  of  sup- 
plying mere  physical  wants,  rather  than  expanded  into  searching 
for  those  of  a  contemplative  or  intellectual  gratification  ;  the  foot- 
sore and  way-worn  require,  according  to 

"  The  unexernpt  condition 
By  which  all  mortal  frailty  must  subsist. 
Refreshment  after  toil,  ease  after  pain.'7 

Walking  is  the  manner  by  which  beasts  travel,  who  have 
therefore  four  legs ;  those  bipeds  who  follow  the  example  of  the 
brute  animals  will  soon  find  that  they  will  be  reduced  to  their 
level  in  more  particulars  than  they  imagined  or  bargained  for. 
Again,  as  no  Spaniard  ever  walks  for  pleasure,  and  none  ever 
perform  a  journey  on  foot  except  trampers  and  beggars,  it  is 
never  supposed  possible  that  any  one  else  should  do  so  except 
from  compulsion.  Pedestrians  therefore  are  either  ill  received, 
or  become  objects  of  universal  suspicion  ;  for  a  Spanish  authority, 
judging  of  others  by  himself,  always  takes  the  worst  view  of  the 
stranger,  whom  he  considers  as  guilty  until  he  proves  himself 
innocent. 

Before  the  pleasures  of  a  riding  tour  through  Spain  are  men 


86  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


tioned,  a  few  observations  on  the  choice  of  companions  may  be 
made. 

Those  who  travel  in  public  conveyances  or  with  muleteers  are 
seldom  likely  to  be  left  alone.  It  is  the  horseman  who  strikes 
into  out-of-the-way,  unfrequented  districts,  who  will  feel  the  want 
of  that  important  item— a  travelling  companion,  on  which,  as  in 
choosing  a  wife,  it  is  easy  enough  to  give  advice.  The  patient, 
must,  however,  administer  to  himself,  and  the  selection  will 
depend,  of  course,  much  on  the  taste  and  idiosyncracy  of  each 
individual  ;  those  unfortunate  persons  who  are  accustomed  to 
have  everything  their  own  way,  or  those  happy  ones,  who  are 
never  less  alone  than  when  alone,  and  who  possess  the  alchymy 
of  finding  resources  and  amusements  in  themselves,  may  pprhaps 
find  that  plan  to  be  the  best ;  at  all  events,  no  company  is  better 
than  bad  company:  "  mas  vale  ir  solo,  que  mal  acompanado." 
A  solitary  wanderer  is  certainly  the  most  unfettered  as  regards 
his  notions  and  motions,  "  no  tengo  padre  ni  madre,  ni  perro  que 
me  ladre."  He  who  has  "  neither  father,  mother,  nor  dog  to  bark 
at  him,"  can  read  the  book  of  Spain,  as  it  were,  in  his  own  room, 
dwelling  on  what  he  likes,  and  skipping  what  he  does  not,  as  with 
a  red  Murray. 

Every  coin  has,  however,  its  reverse,  and  every  rose  its  thorn. 
Notwithstanding  these  and  other  obvious  advantages,  and  the, 
tendency  that  occupation  and  even  hardships  have  to  drive  away 
imaginary  evils,  this  freedom  will  be  purchased  by  occasional 
moments  of  depression ;  a  dreary,  forsaken  feeling  will  steal  over 
the  most  cheerful  mind.  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone  ;  and 
this  social  necessity  never  comes  home  stronger  to  the  warm 
taart  than  during  a  long-continued  solitary  ride  through  the 
rarely  visited -districts  of  the  Peninsula.  The  sentiment  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  abstract  feeling  which  is  inspired  by 
the  present  condition  of  unhappy  Spain,  fallen  from  her  high 
estate,  and  blotted  almost  from  the  map  of  Europe.  Silent,  sad, 
and  lonely  is  her  face,  on  which  the  stranger  will  too  often  gaze  ; 
her  hedgeless,  treeless  tracts  of  corn-field,  bounded  only  by  the 
low  horizon  ;  her  uninhabited,  uncultivated  plains,  abandoned  to 
the  wild  flower  and  the  bee,  and  which  are  rendered  still  more 
melancholy  by  ruined  castle,  or  village,  which  stand  out  bleach- 


SPANISH   MANNERS.  87 

ing  skeletons  of  a  former  vitality.  The  dreariness  of  this  abomi- 
nation of  desolation  is  increased  by  the  singular  absence  of  sing- 
ing birds,  and  the  presence  of  the  vulture,  the  eagle,  and  lonely 
birds  of  prey.  The  wanderer,  far  from  home  and  friends,  feels 
doubly  a  stranger  in  this  strange  land,  where  no  smile  greets  his 
coming,  no  tear  is  shed  at  his  going, — where  his  memory  passes 
away,  like  that  of  a  guest  who  tarrieth  but  a  day, — where  noth- 
ing of  human  life  is  seen,  where  its  existence  only  is  inferred  by 
the  rude  wooden  cross  or  stone-piled  cairn,  which  marks  the  un- 
consecrated  grave  of  some  traveller  who  has  been  waylaid  there 
alone,  murdered,  and  sent  to  his  account  with  all  his  imperfections 
on  his  head. 

However  confidently ,  we  have  relied  on  past  experience  that 
such  would  not  be  our  fate,  yet  these  sorts  of  Spanish  milestones 
marked  with  memento  mori,  are  awkward  evidences  that  the 
thing  is  not  altogether  impossible.  It  makes  a  single  gentleman, 
whose  life  is  not  insured,  not  only  trust  to  Santiago,  but  keep 
his  powder  dry,  and  look  every  now  and  then  if  his  percussion 
cap  fits.  On  these  occasions  the  falling  in  with  any  of  the  no- 
made  half-Bedouin  natives  is  a  sort  of  godsend  ;  their  society  is 
quite  different  from  that  of  a  regular  companion,  for  better  or 
worse  until  death  us  do  part,  as  it  is  casual,  and  may  be  taken  up 
or  dropped  at  convenience.  The  habits  of  all  Spaniards  when 
on  the  road  are  remarkably  gregarious  ;  a  common  fear  acts  as  a 
cement,  while  the  more  they  are  in  number  the  merrier.  It  is 
hail  !  well  met,  fellow-traveller  !  and  the  being  glad  to  see  each 
other  is  an  excellent  introduction.  The  sight  of  passengers 
bound  our  way  is  like  speaking  a  strange  sail  on  the  Atlantic, 
Hola  Camara  !  ship  a-hoy.  This  predisposition  tends  to  make 
all  travellers  write  so  much  and  so  handsomely  of  the  lower 
classes  of  Spaniards,  not.  indeed  more  than  they  deserve,  for  they 
are  a  fine,  noble  race.  Something  of  this  arises,  because  on 
such  occasions  all  parties  meet  on  an  equality ;  and  this  levelling 
effect,  perhaps  unperceived,  induces  many  a  foreigner,  however 
proud  and  reserved  at  home,  to  unbend,  and  that  unaffectedly. 
He  treats  these  accidental  acquaintances  quite  differently  from 
the  manner  in  which  he  would  venture  to  treat  the  lower  orders 
of  his  own  country,  who,'  probably,  if  conciliated  by  the  same 


88  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

condescension  of  manner,  would  appear  in  a  more  amiable 
light,  although  they  are  inferior  to  the  Spaniard  in  his  Oriental 
goodness  of  manner,  his  perfect  tact,  his  putting  himself  and 
others  into  their  proper  place,  without  either  self-degradation 
or  vulgar  assumption  of  social  equality  or  superior  physical 
powers. 

A  long  solitary  ride  is  hardly  to  be  recommended  ;  it  is  not 
fair  to  friends  who  have  been  left  anxious  behind,  nor  is  it  pru- 
dent to  expose  oneself,  without  help,  to  the  common  accidents  to 
which  a  horse  and  his  rider  are  always  liable.  Those  who  have 
a  friend  with  whom  they  feel  they  can  venture  to  go  in  double 
harness,  had  better  do  so.  It  is  a  severe  test,  and  the  trial  be- 
comes greater  in  proportion  as  hardships  abound  and  accommoda- 
tions are  scanty — causes  which  sour  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness, and  prove  indifferent  restorers  of  stomach  or  temper.  It  is 
on  these  occasions,  on  a  large  journey  and  in  a  small  venta,  that 
a  man  finds  out  what  his  friend  really  is  made  of.  While  in  the 
more  serious  necessities  of  clanger,  sickness,  and  need — a  friend 
is  one  indeed,  and  the  one  thing  wanting,  with  whom  we  share 
our  last  morsel  and  cup  gladly.  The  salt  of  good  fellowship,  if 
it  cannot  work  miracles  as  to  quantity,  converts  the  small  loaf  into 
a  respectable  abstract  feed,  by  the  zest  and  satisfaction  with 
which  it  flavors  it. 

Nothing,  moreover,  cements  friendships  for  the  future  like 
having  made  one  of  these  conjoint  rambles,  provided  it  did  not 
end  in  a  quarrel.  The  mere  fact  of  having  travelled  at  all  in 
Spain  has  a  peculiarity  which  is  denied  to  the  more  hackneyed 
countries  of  Europe.  When  we  are  introduced  to  a  person  who 
has  visited  these  spell-casting  sites,  we  feel  as  if  we  knew  him 
already.  There  is  a  sort  of  freemasonry  in  having  done  some- 
thing in  common,  which  is  not  in  common  with  the  world  at  large. 
Those  who  are  about  to  qualify  themselves  for  this  exclusive 
quality  will  do  well  not  to  let  the  party  exceed  five  in  number, 
three  masters  and  two  servants;  two  masters  with  two  servants 
are  perhaps  more  likely  to  be  better  accommodated ;  a  third  per- 
son, however,  is  often  of  use  in  trying  journeys,  as  an  arbiter 
elegantiarum  et  rixarum,  a  referee  and  arbitrator  ;  for  in  the  best 
regulated  teams  it  must  happen  that  some  one  will  occasionally 


CHOICE   OF   HORSES.  89 

start,  gib,  or  bolt,  when  the  majority  being  against  him  brings  the 
offender  to  his  proper  senses.  Four  eyes,  again,  see  better  than 
two,  "  mas  ven  cuatro  ojos  que  dos." 

By  attending  to  a  few  simple  rules,  a  tour  of  some  months' 
duration,  and  over  thousands  of  miles,  may  be  performed  on  one 
and  the  same  horse,  who  with  his  rider  will  at  the  end  of  the 
journey  be  neither  sick  nor  sorry,  but  in  such  capital  condition 
as  to  be  ready  to  start  again.  We  presume  that  the  time  will 
be  chosen  when  the  days  are  long  and  Nature  has  thrown  aside 
her  wintry  garb.  Fine  weather  is  the  joy  of  the  wayfarer's 
soul,  and  nothing  can  be  more  different  than  the  aspect  of  Span- 
ish villages  in  good  or  in  bad  weather ;  as  in  the  East,  during 
wintry  rains  they  are  the  acmes  of  mud  and  misery,  but  let  the 
sun. shine  out,  and  all  is  gilded.  It  is  the  smile  which  lights  up 
the  habitually  sad  expression  of  a  Spanish  woman's  face.  The 
blessed  beam  cheers  poverty  itself,  and  by  its  stimulating,  exhil- 
arating action  on  the  system  of  man,  enables  him  to  buffet  against 
the  moral  evils  to  which  countries  the  most  favored  by  climate 
seem,  as  if  it  were  from  compensation,  to  be  more  exposed 
than  those  where  the  skies  are  dull,  and  the  winds  bleak  and 
cold. 

As  in  our  cavalry  regiments,  where  real  service  is  required,  a 
perfect  animal  is  preferred,  a  rider  should  choose  a  mare  rather 
than  a  gelding  ;  the  use  of  entire  horses  is,  however,  so  general 
in  Spain,  that  one  of  such  had  better  be  selected  than  a  mare. 
The  day's  journey  will  vary  according  to  circumstances  from 
twenty-five  to  forty  miles.  The  start  should  be  made  before  day- 
break, and  the  horse  well  fed  at  least  an  hour  before  the  journey 
is  commenced,  during  which  Spaniards,  if  they  can,  go  to  church, 
for  they  say  that  no  time  is  ever  lost  on  a  journey  by  feeding 
horses  and  men  and  hearing  masses,  misa  y  cebada  no  estorban 
Jornada. 

The  hours  of  starting,  of  course,  depend  on  the  distance  and 
the  district.  The  sooner  the  better,  as  all  who  wish  to  cheat  the 
devil  must  get  up  very  early.  "  Quien  al  demonio  quiere  en- 
ganar,  muy  temprano  levantarse  ka"  It  is  a  great  thing  for 
the  traveller  to  reach  his  night  quarters  as  soon  as  he  can,  for 
the  first  comers  are  the  best  served  :  borrow  therefore  an  hour 


90  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


of  the  morning  rather  than  from  the  night ;  and  that  hour,  if  you 
lose  it  at  starting,  you  will  never  overtake  in  the  day.  Again,  in 
the  summer  it  is  both  agreeable  and  profitable  to  be  under  weigh 
and  off  at  least  an  hour  or  two  before  sunrise,  as  the  heat  soon 
gets  insupportable,  and  the  stranger  is  exposed  to  the  tabardillo, 
the  coup  de  soleil,  which,  even  in  a  smaller  degree,  occasions 
more  ill  health  in  Spain  than  is  generally  imagined,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  English,  who  brave  it  either  from  ignorance  or  fool- 
hardiness.  The  head  should  be  well  protected  with  a  silk  hand- 
kerchief, tied  after  a  turban  fashion,  which  all  the  natives  do  ;  in 
addition  to  which  we  always  lined  the  inside  of  our  hats  with 
thickly  doubled  brown  paper.  In  Andalucia,  during  summer,  the 
muleteers  travel  by  night,  and  rest  during  the  day-heat,  which, 
however,  is  not  a  satisfactory  method,  except  for  those  who  wjsh 
to  see  nothing.  We  have  never  adopted  it.  The  early  mornings 
and  cool  afternoons  and  evenings  are  infinitely  preferable ;  while 
to  the  artist  the  glorious  sunrises  and  sunsets,  and  the  marking 
of  mountains,  and  definition  of  forms  from  the  long  shadows,  are 
magnificent  beyond  all  conception.  In  these  almost  tropical 
countries,  when  the  sun  is  high,  the  effect  of  shadow  is  lost,  and 
everything  looks  flat  and  unpicturesque. 

The  journey  should  be  divided  into  two  portions,  and  the  long- 
est should  be  accomplished  the  first :  the  pace  should  average  about 
five  miles  an  hour,  it  being  an  object  not  to  keep  the  animal  unne- 
cessarily on  his  legs :  he  may  be  trotted  gently,  and  even  up  easy 
hills,  but  should  always  be  walked  down  them  ;  nay,  if  led,  so 
much  the  better,  which  benefits  both  horse  and  rider.  It  is  sur- 
prising how  a  steady,  continued  slow  pace  gets  over  the  ground  : 
Chi  va  piano,  va  sano,  e  lontano,  says  the  Italian  ;  paso  a  paso  va 
lejos,  step  by  step  goes  far,  responds  the  Castilian.  The  end  of 
the  journey  each  day  is  settled  before  starting,  and  there  the  trav- 
eller is  sure  to  arrive  with  the  evening.  Spaniards  never  fidget 
themselves  to  get  quickly  to  places  where  nobody  is  expecting 
them :  nor  is  there  any  good  to  be  got  in  trying  to  hurry  man  or 
beast  in  Spain ;  you  might  as  well  think  of  hurrying  the  Court 
of  Chancery.  The  animals  should  be  rested,  if  possible,  every 
fourth  day,  and  not  used  during  halts  in  town,  unless  they  exceed 
three  days'  sojourn. 


FEEDING  YOUR   HORSE.  91 

On  arriving  at  every  halting- place,  look  first  at  the  feet,  and 
pick  out  any  pebbles  or  dirt,  and  examine  the  nails  and  shoes 
carefully,  to  see  that  nothing  is  loose ;  let  this  inspection  become 
a  habit ;  do  not  wash  the  feet  too  soon,  as  the  sudden  chill  some- 
times  produces  fever  in  them  :  when  they  are  cool,  clean  them 
and  grease  the  hoof  well  ;  after  that  you  may  wash  as  much  as 
you  please.  The  best  thing,  however,  is  to  feed  your  horse  at 
once,  before  thinking  of  his  toilet ;  the  march  will  have  given  an 
appetite,  while  the  fatigue  requires  immediate  restoration.  If  a 
horse  is  to  be  worried  with  cleaning,  &c.,  he  often  loses  heart  and 
gets  off  his  feed  :  be  may  be  rubbed  down  when  he  has  done  eat- 
ing, and  his  bed  should  be  made  up  as  for  night,  the  stable  dark- 
ened, and  the  animal  left  quite  quiet,  and  the  longer  the  better : 
feed  him  well  again  an  hour  before  starting  for  the  afternoon 
stage,  and  treat  him  on  coming  in  exactly  as  you  did  in  the 
morning.  The  food  must  be  regulated  by  the  work  :  when  that 
is  severe,  give  corn  with  both  hands,  and  stint  the  hay  and  other 
lumber  :  what  you  want  is  to  concentrate  support  by  quality,  not 
quantity.  The  Spaniard  will  tell  you  that  one  mouthful  of  beef 
is  worth  ten  of  potatoes.  If  your  horse  is  an  English  one,  it 
must  be  rememembered  that  eight  pounds'  weight  of  barley  is 
equal  to  ten  of  oats,  as  containing  less  husk  and  more  mucilage 
or  starch,  which  our  horse-dealers  know  when  they  want  to  make 
up  a  horse  ;  overfeeding  a  horse  in  the  hot  climate  of  Spain,  like 
overfeeding  his  rider,  renders  both  liable  to  fevers  and  sudden 
inflammatory  attacks,  which  are  much  more  prevalent  in  Gibral- 
tar than  elsewhere  in  Spain,  because  our  countrymen  will  go  on 
exactly  as  if  they  were  at  home. 

At  all  events,  feed  your  horse  well  with  something  or  other,  or 
your  Spanish  squire  will  rain  proverbs  on  you,  like  Sancho  Panza  ; 
the  belly  must  be  filled  with  hay  or  straw,  for  it  in  reality  carries 
the  feet,  O  paja  o  heno  el  vientre  lleno — tripas  llevan  a  pies,  and  so 
forth.  The  Spaniards  when  on  a  journey  allow  their  horses  to 
drink  copiously  at  every  stream,  saying  that  there  is  no  juice  like 
that  of  flints  :  and  indeed  they  set  the  example,  for  they  are  all 
down  on  their  bellies  at  every  brook,  swilling  water,  according  to 
the  proverb,  like  an  ox,  and  wine,  when  they  can  get  it,  like  a 
king.  If  therefore  you  are  riding  a  Spanish  horse,  which  has 


92  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

been  accustomed  to  this  continual  tippling,  let  him  drink,  other- 
wise he  will  be  fevered.  If  the  horse  has  been  treated  in  the 
English  fashion,  give  him  his  water  only  after  his  meals,  other, 
wise  he  will  break  out  into  weakening  sweats.  Should  the  ani- 
mal ever  arrive  distressed,  a  tepid  gruel,  made  with  oatmeal  or 
even  flour,  will  comfort  him  much.  At  nightfall,  stop  the  feet 
with  wet  tow,  or  with  horse  dung,  for  that  of  cows  will  seldom  be 
to  be  had  in  Spain,  where  goats  furnish  milk,  and  Dutchmen' 
butter. 

Let  the  feet  be  constantly  attended  to ;  the  horse  having  twice 
as  many  as  his  rider,  requires  double  attention,  and  of  what  use 
to  a  traveller  is  a  quadruped  that  has  not  a  leg  to  go  upon  ?     This 
is  well  known  to  those  commercial  gentlemen  who  are  the  only 
persons  now-a-days  in  England  who  make  riding  journeys.     It  is 
the  shoe  that  makes  or  mars  the  horse,  and  no  wise  man,  in  Spain 
or  out,  who  has  got  a  four-footed  hobby,  or  three  half-crowns, 
should  delay  sending  to  Longman's  for  that  admirable  "  Miles  on 
the  Horse's  Foot."     "Every  knight-errant,"  says  Don  Quixote, 
"  ought  to  be  able  to  shoe  his  own  Rosinante  himself."     Rosin  is 
pure  Arabic  for  a  hackney — at  least  he  should  know  how  this 
calceolation  ought  to  be  done.     As  a  general  rule,  always  take 
your  quadruped  to  the  forge,  where  the  shoes  can  be  fitted  to  his 
feet,  not  the  feet  to  ready-made  shoes ;  and  if  you  value  the  com- 
fort, the  extension  of  life,  and  service  of  your  steed— fasten  the 
fore  shoes  with  Jive  nails  at  ?nost  in  the  outside,  and  with  two  only 
in  the  inside,  and  those  near  the  toe  ;  do  not  in  mercy  fix  by  nails 
all  round  an  unyielding  rim  of  dead  iron  to  an  expanding  living 
hoof;  remember  also  always  to  take  with  you  a  spare  set  of  shoes, 
with  nails  and  a  hammer— for  the  want  of  a  nail  the  shoe  was 
lost ;  for  the  want  of  a  shoe  the  rider  was  lost.     In  many  parts  of 
Spain,  where  there  are  no  fine  modern  roads,  you  might  almost 
do  without  any  shoes  at  all,  as  the  ancients  did,  and  is  done  in 
parts  of  Mexico  ;  but  no  unprotected  hoof  can  stand  the  constant 
wear  and  tear,  the  filing  of  a  macadamized  highway. 

The  horse  will  probably  be  soon  in  such  condition  as  to  want 
no  more  physic  than  his  rider  ;  a  lump,  however,  of  rock  salt,  and 
a  bit  of  chalk  put  at  night  into  his  manger,  answers  the  same  pur- 
poses  as  Epsoms  and  soda  do  to  the  master.  You  should  wash 


THE   MOSQUERO.  93 


out  the  long  tail  and  mane,  which  is  the  glory  of  a  Spanish  horse, 
as  fine  hair  is  to  a  woman,  with  soda  and  water ;  the  alkali  com- 
bining with  the  animal  grease  forms  a  most  searching  detergent. 
A  grand  remedy  for  most  of  the  accidents  to  which  horses  are 
liable  on  a  journey,  such  as  kicks,  cuts,  strains,  &c.,  is  a  con- 
stant fomentation  with  hot  water,  which  should  be  done  under  the 
immediate  superintendence  of  the  master,  or  it  will  be  either  done 
insufficiently,  or  not  done  at  all ;  hot  water,  according  to  the  groom 
genus,  having  been  created  principally  as  a  recipient  of  some- 
thing stronger.  A  crupper  and  breastplate  are  almost  indispen- 
sable, from  the  steep  ascents  and  descents  in  the  mountains.  The 
mosquero,  the  fly-flapper,  is  a  great  comfort  to  the  horse,  as,  being 
in  perpetual  motion,  and  hanging  between  his  eyes,  it  keeps  off 
the  flies;  the  head-stall,  or  night  halter,  never  should  be  removed 
from  the  bridle,  but  be  rolled  up  during  the  day,  and  fastened 
along  the  side  of  the  cheek.  The  long  tail  is  also  rolled  up  when 
the  ways  are  miry,  just  as  those  of  our  blue  jackets  and  horse- 
guards  used  to  be. 


04  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Rider's  costume — Alforjas:   their  contents — The  Bota,  and  How  to 
use  it — Pig  Skins  and  Borracha — Spanish  Money — Onzas  and  smaller 


THE  rider's  costume  and  accoutrements  require  consideration  ; 
his  great  object  should  be  to  pass  in  a  crowd,  either  unnoticed,  or 
to  be  taken  for  "  one  of  us,"  Uno  de  Nosotros,  and  a  member  of 
the  Iberian  family — de  la  Familia  :  this  is  best  effected  by  adopt- 
ing the  dress  that  is  usually  worn  by  the  natives  when  they  travel 
on  horseback,  or  journey  by  any  of  their  national  conveyances, 
among  which  Anglo-Franco  mails  and  diligences  are  not  yet  to  be 
reckoned  ;  all  classes  of  Spaniards,  on  getting  outside  the  town- 
gate,  assume  country  habits,  and  eschew  the  long-tailed  coats  and 
civilization  of  the  city  ;  they  drop  pea-jackets  and  foreign  fashions, 
which  would  only  attract  attention,  and  expose  the  wearers  to 
the  ridicule  or  coarser  marks  of  consideration  from  the  peasantry, 
muleteers,  and  other  gentry,  who  rule  on  the  road,  hate  novelties, 
and  hold  fast  to  the  ways  and  jackets  of  their  forefathers ;  the 
best  hat,  therefore,  is  the  common  sombrero  calanes,  which  re- 
semble those  worn  at  Astley's  by  banditti,  being  of  a  conical 
shape,  is  edged  with  black  velvet,  ornamented  with  silken  tufts, 
and  looks  equally  well  on  a  cockney  from  London,  or  on  a  squire 
from  Devonshire.  The  jacket  should  be  the  universal  fur 
Zamarra,  which  is  made  of  black  sheepskin,  in  its  ordinary  form, 
and  of  lambskin  for  those  who  can  pay ;  a  sash  round  the  waist 
should  never  be  forgotten,  being  most  useful  both  in  reality  and 
metaphor  :  it  sustains  the  loins,  and  keeps  off  the  dangerous  colics 
of  Spain,  by  maintaining  an  equable  heat  over  the  abdomen : 
hence,  to  be  Homerically  well  girt  is  half  the  battle  for  the  Penin- 
sular traveller.  x 

The  capa  the  cloak,  or  the  mania   a  striped  plaid,  and  saddle- 


THE  ALFORJAS.  95 

bags,  the  Alforjas,  are  absolute  essentials,  and  should  be  strapped 
on  the  pommel  of  the  saddle,  as  being  there  less  heating  to  the 
horse  than  when  placed  on  his  flanks,  and  being  in  front,  they 
are  more  handy  for  sudden  use,  since  in  the  mountains  and  val- 
leys, the  rider  is  constantly  exposed  to  sudden  variations  of  wind 
and  weather  ;  when  ^Eolus  and  Sol  contend  for  his  cloak,  as  in 
JSsop's  Fables,  and  the  buckets  of  heaven  are  emptied  on  him  as 
soon  as  the  god  of  fire  thinks  him  sufficiently  baked. 

These  saddle-bags  are  most  classical,  Oriental,  and  convenient : 
they  indeed  constitute  the  genus  bagsman,  and  have  given  their 
name  to  our  riding  travellers ;  they  are  the  Sarcince  of  Cato  the 
Censor,  the  JBuJgce  of  Lucilius,  who  made  an  epigram  thereon  : — 

"Cum  bulga  coenat,  dormit,  lavat,  omnis  in  una. 
Spes  hominis  bulga  hac  devincta  est  castera  vita  :'7 

which,  as  these  indispensables  are  quite  as  necessary  to  the  modern 
Spaniard,  may  be  thus  translated  : — 

"  A  good  roomy  bag  delighteth  a  Roman, 

He  is  never  without  this  appendage  a  minute ; 
In  bed,  at  the  bath,  at  his  meals, — in  short  no  man 
Should  fail  to  stow  life,  hope,  and  self  away  in  it." 

The  countrymen  of  Sancho  Panza,  when  on  the  road,  make 
the  same  use  of  their  wallets  as  the  Romans  did  ;  they  still  (the 
washing  excepted)  live  and  die  with  these  bags,  in  which  their 
hearts  are  deposited  with  their  bread  and  cheese. 

These  Spanish  alforjas,  in  name  and  appearance,  are  the  Moor- 
ish al  horeh.  (The  F  and  H,  like  the  B  and  V,  X  and  J,  are  al- 
most equivalent,  and  are  used  indiscriminately  in  Spanish  caco- 
graphy.)  They  are  generally  composed  of  cotton  and  worsted, 
and  are  embroidered  in  gaudy  colors  and  patterns ;  the  correct 
thing  is  to  have  the  owner's  name  worked  in  on  the  edge,  which 
ought  to  be  done  by  the  delicate  hand  of  his  beloved  mistress. 
Those  made  at  Granada  are  very  excellent ;  the  Moorish,  espe- 
cially -those  from  Morocco,  are  ornamented  with  an  infinity  of 
small  tassels.  Peasants,  when  dismounted,  mendicant  monks, 
when  foraging  for  their  convents,  sling  their  alforjas  over  their 
shoulders  when  they  come  into  villages. 


96  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

Among  the  contents  which  most  people  will  find  it  convenient 
to  carry  in  the  right-hand  bag,  as  the  easiest  to  be  got  at,  a  pair 
of  blue  gauze  wire  spectacles  or  goggles  will  be  found  useful,  as 
ophthalmia  is  very  common  in  Spain,  and  particularly  in  the  cal- 
cined central  plains.  The  constant  glare  is  unrelieved  by  any 
verdure,  the  air  is  dry,  and  the  clouds  of  dust  highly  irritating 
from  being  impregnated  with  nitre.  The  best  remedy  is  to  bathe 
the  eyes  frequently  with  hot  water,  and  never  to  rub  them  ivlicn 
inflamed,  except  with  the  elbows,  los  ojos  con  los  codos.  Span- 
iards never  jest  with  their  eyes  or  faith  ;  of  the  two  perhaps  they 
are  seriously  fondest  of  the  former,  not  merely  when  sparkling 
beneath  the  arched  eyebrows  of  the  dark  sex,  but  when  set  in 
their  own  heads.  "  I  love  thee  like  my  eyes,"  is  quite  a  hack- 
neyed form  of  affection  ;  nor,  however  wrathful  and  imprecatory, 
do  they  under  any  circumstances  express  the  slightest  unchari- 
table wishes  in  regard  to  the  visual  organs  of  their  bitterest  foe. 

The  whole  art  of  the  alforjas  is  the  putting  into  them  what  you 
want  the  most  often,  and  in  the  most  handy  and  accessible  place. 
Keep  here,  therefore,  a  supply  of  small  money  for  the  halt  and 
the  blind,  for  the  piteous  cases  of  human  suffering  and  poverty 
by  which  the  traveller's  eye  will  be  pained  in  a  land  where  soup- 
dispensing  monks  are  done  away  with,  and  assistant  new  poor 
law  commissioners  not  yet  appointed  ;  such  charity  from  God's 
purse,  bolsa  de  Dios,  never  impoverishes  that  of  man,  and  a  cheer- 
ful giver,  however  opposed  to  modern  political  economists,  is  com 
mended  in  that  old-fashioned  book  called  the  Bible.  The  left 
half  of  the  alforjas  may  be  apportioned  to  the  writing  and  dress- 
ing cases,  and  the  smaller  each  are  the  better. 

Food  for  the  mind  must  not  be  neglected.  The  travelling 
library,  like  companions,  should  be  select  and  good ;  tibros  y 
amigos  pocos  y  buenos.  The  duodecimo  editions  are  the  best,  as 
a  large  heavy  book  kills  horse,  rider,  and  reader.  Books  are  a 
matter  of  taste ;  some  men  like  Bacon,  others  prefer  Pickwick  ; 
stow  away  at  all  events  a  pocket  edition  of  the  Bible,  Shakspere, 
and  Don  Quixote  :  and  if  the  advice  of  dear  Dr.  Johnson  be  worth 
following,  one  of  those  books  that  can  be  taken  in  the  hand,  and 
to  the  fire-side.  Martial,  a  grand  authority  on  Spanish  hand- 
books, recommended  «  such  sized  companions  on  a  long  journey." 


THE  BOTA.  97 


Quartos  and  folios,  said  he,  may  be  left  at  home  in  the  book- 
case— 

"  Scrinia  da  magnis,  me  manus  una  capit." 

Here  also  keep  the  passport,  that  indescribable  nuisance  and  curs^ 
of  continental  travel,  to  which  a  free-born  Briton  never  can  grf 
reconciled,  and  is  apt  to  neglect,  whereby  he  puts  himself  in  th  • 
power  of  the  worst  and  most  troublesome  people  on  earth.  Pass 
ports  in  Spain  now  in  some  degree  supply  the  Inquisition,  and 
have  been  embittered  by  vexatious  forms  borrowed  from  bureau- 
cratic  France. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  these  matters  on  the  front  bow  of  his 
saddle,  to  which  we  always  added  a  lota — the  pocket-pistol  of 
Hudibras — one  word  on  this  Bota,  which  is  as  necessary  to  tlm 
rider  as  a  saddle  to  his  horse.  This  article,  so  Asiatic  and 
Spanish,  is  at  once  the  bottle  and  the  glass  of  the  people  of  the 
Peninsula  when  on  the  road,  and  is  perfectly  unlike  the  vitreous 
crockery  and  pewter  utensils  of  Great  Britain.  A  Spanish  wo- 
man would  as  soon  think  of  going  to  church  without  her  fan, 
or  a  Spanish  man  to  a  fair  without  his  knife,  as  a  traveller  with- 
out his  lota.  Ours,  the  faithful,  long-tried  comforter  of  many  a 
dry  road,  and  honored  now  like  a  relic,  is  hung  up  a  votive  of- 
fering to  the  Iberian  Bacchus,  as  the  mariners  in  Horace  sus- 
pended their  damp  garments  to  the  deity  who  had  delivered  them 
from  the  dangers  of  water.  Its  skin,  now  shrivelled  with  age 
and  with  fruitless  longings  for  wine,  is  still  redolent  of  the  ruby 
fluid,  whether  the  generous  Valdepenas  or  the  rich  vino  de  Toro  : 
and  refreshing  to  our  nostrils  is  even  an  occasional  smell  at  its 
red-stained  orifice.  There  the  racy  wine-perfume  lingers,  and 
brings  water  into  the  mouth,  it  may  be  into  the  eyelid.  What  a 
dream  of  Spanish  odors,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  is  awakened 
by  its  well-known  borracha  ! — what  recollections,  breathing  the 
aroma  of  the  balmy  south,  crowd  in  ;  of  aromatic  wastes,  of 
leagues  of  thyme,  whence  Flora  sends  forth  advertisements  to  her 
tiny  bee-customer  ;  of  churches,  all  incense  ;  of  the  goats  and 
monks,  long-bearded  and  odoriferous ;  of  cities  whose  steam  of 
garlic,  ollas,  oil,  and  tobacco  rises  up  to  the  heavens,  mingled 
with  the  thousand  and  one  other  continental  sweets  which  assail 

PART  i.  6 


98  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

a  man's  nose,  whether  he  lands  at  Calais  or  Cadiz  !  There  hangs 
our  smelling-bottle  bota,  now  a  pleasure  of  memory  ;  it  has  had 
its  day,  and  is  never  again  to  be  filled  in  torrid,  thirsty  Spain,  nor 
emptied,  which  is  better. 

This  Bota,  from  whence  the  terms  Butt  of  sherry,  bouteille, 
and  bottle  are  derived,  is  the  most  ancient  Oriental  leathern  bottle 
alluded  to  in  Job  xxxii.  19,  "  My  belly  ready  to  burst  like  new 
bottles  ;"  and  in  the  parable,  Matt.  ix.  17,  about  the  old  ones, 
the  force  and  point  of  which  is  entirely  lost  by  our  word  bottle, 
which  being  made  of  glass,  is  not  liable  to  become  useless  by  age 
like  one  made  of  leather.  Such  a  "  bottle  of  water"  was  the  last 
among  the  few  things  which  Abraham  gave  to  Hagar,  when  he 
turned  out  the  mother  of  the  Arabians,  whose  descendants  brought 
its  usage  into  Spain.  The  shape  is  like  that  of  a  large  pear  or 
shot-pouch,  and  it  contains  from  two  to  five  quarts.  The  narrow 
neck  is  mounted  with  a  turned  wooden  cup,  from  which  the 
contents  are  drunk.  The  way  to  use  it  is  thus — grasp  the  neck 
with  the  left  hand  and  bring  the  rim  of  the  cup  to  the  mouth, 
then  gradually  raise  the  bag  with  the  other  hand  till  the  wine,  in 
obedience  to  hydrostatic  laws,  rises  to  its  level,  and  keeps  always 
full  in  the  cup  without  trouble  to  the  mouth.  The  gravity  with 
which  this  is  done,  the  long,  slow,  sustained,  Sancho-like  devo- 
tion of  the  thirsty  Spaniards  when  offered  a  drink  out  of  another 
man's  bota,  is  very  edifying,  and  is  as  deep  as  the  sigh  of  delight 
and  gratitude  with  which,  when  unable  to  imbibe  more,  the  pre- 
cious skin  is  returned.  No  drop  of  the  divine  contents  is  wasted, 
except  by  some  newly-arrived  bungler,  who,  by  lifting  up  the 
bottom  first,  inundates  his  chin.  The  hole  in  the  cup  is  made 
tight  by  a  wooden  spigot,  which  again  is  perforated  and  stopped 
with  a  small  peg.  Those  who  do  not  want  to  take  a  copious 
draught  do  not  pull  out  the  spigot,  but  merely  the  little  peg  of  it ; 
the  wine  then  flows  out  in  a  thin  thread.  The  Catalonians  and 
Aragonese  generally  drink  in  this  way ;  they  never  touch  the 
vessel  with  their  lips,  but  hold  it  up  at  a  distance  above,  and 
pilot  the  stream  into  their  mouths,  or  rather  under-jaws.  It  is 
much  easier  for  those  who  have  had  no  practice  to  pour  the  wine 
into  their  necks  than  into  their  mouths,  but  their  drinking- bottles 
are  made  with  a  long  narrow  spout,  and  are  called  "  Porrones." 


THE  BOTA— WINE.  09 


The  Bota  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Borracha  or  Cuero, 
the  wine-skin  of  Spain,  which  is  the  entire,  and  answers  the  pur, 
pose  of  the  barrel  elsewhere.  The  lota  is  the  retail  receptacle, 
the  cuero  is  the  wholesale  one.  It  is  the  genuine  pig's  skin,  the 
adoration  of  which  disputes  in  the  Peninsula  with  the  cigar,  the 
dollar,  and  even  the  worship  of  the  Virgin.  The  shops  of  the 
makers  are  to  be  seen  in  most  Spanish  towns  ;  in  them  long 
lines  of  the  unclean  animal's  blown  out  hides  are  strung  up  like 
sheep  carcases  in  our  butchers'  shambles.  The  tanned  and  man- 
ufactured article  preserves  the  form  of  the  pig,  feet  and  all,  with 
the  exception  of  one  :  the  skin  is  turned  inside  out,  so  that  the 
hairy  coat  lines  the  interior,  which,  moreover,  is  carefully  pitched 
like  a  ship's  bottom,  to  prevent  leaking  ;  hence  the  peculiar  fla- 
vor, which  partakes  of  resin  and  the  hide,  which  is  called  the 
borracha,  and  is  peculiar  to  most  Spanish  wines,  sherry  excepted, 
which  being  made  by  foreigners,  is  kept  in  foreign  casks,  as  we 
shall  presently  show  when  we  touch  on  "  good  sherris  sack."  A 
drunken  man,  who  is  rarer  in  Spain  than  in  England,  is  called  a 
borracho  ;  the  term  is  not  complimentary.  The  cueros,  when 
filled,  are  suspended  in  ventas  and  elsewhere,  and  thus  economise 
cellarage,  cooperage,  and  bottling ;  and  such  were  the  bigbellied 
monsters  which  Don  Quixote  attacked. 

As  the  lota  is  always  near  every  Spaniard's  mouth  who  can 
get  at  one,  all  classes  being  ever  ready,  like  Sancho,  to  give  "  a 
thousand  kisses,"  not  only  to  his  own  legitimate  bota,  but  to  that 
of  his  neighbor,  which  is  coveted  more  than  wife :  therefore  no 
prudent  traveller  will  ever  journey  an  inch  in  Spain  without 
getting  one,  and  when  he  has,  will  never  keep  it  empty,  especial- 
ly when  he  falls  in  with  good  wine.  Every  man's  Spanish 
attendant  will  always  find  out,  by  instinct,  where  the  best  wine 
is  to  be  had ;  good  wine  neither  needs  bush,  herald,  nor  crier ; 
in  these  matters,  our  experience  of  them  tallies  with  their  pro. 
verb,  "  mas  vale  vino  maldito,  que  no  agua  bendita,"  "  cursea 
bad  wine  is  better  than  holy  water;"  at  the  same  time,  in  their 
various  scale  of  comparisons,  there  is  good  wine,  better  wine,  and 
best  wine,  but  no  such  thing  as  bad  wine  ;  of  good  wine,  the 
Spaniards  are  almost  as  good  judges  as  of  good  water;  they 
rarely  mix  them,  because  they  say  that  it  is  spoiling  two  good 


100  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUJSTRY. 

things.  Vino  Moro,  or  Moorish  wine,  is  by  no  means  indicative 
of  uncleanness,  or  other  heretical  imperfections  impliid  generally 
by  that  epithet ;  it  simply  means,  that  it  is  pure  from  never 
having  been  baptized  with  water,  for  which  the  Asturians,  who 
keep  small  chandlers'  shops,  are  so  infamous,  that  they  are  said, 
from  inveterate  habit,  to  adulterate  even  water ;  aguan  el  agua. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose,  because  Spaniards  are  seldom 
seen  drunk,  and  because  when  on  a  journey  they  drink  as  much 
water  as  their  beasts,  that  they  have  any  Oriental  dislike  to  wine ; 
the  rule  is  "  Agua  como  buey,  y  vino  como  Rey"  "  to  drink  water 
like  an  ox,  and  wine  like  a  king."  The  extent  of  the  given 
quantity  of  wine  which  they  will  always  swallow,  rather  suggests 
that  their  habitual  temperance  may  in  some  degree  be  connected 
more  with  their  poverty  than  with  their  will.  The  way  to  many 
ah  honest  breast  lies  through  the  belly  in  this  classical  land, 
where  the  tutelar  of  butlers  still  keeps  the  key  of  their  cellars 
and  hearts — aperit  prsecordia  Bacchus :  nor  is  their  Oriental 
blessing  unconnected  with  some  "  savory  food"  previously  ad- 
ministered. And  independently  of  the  very  obvious  reasons 
which  good  wine  does  and  ought  to  afford  for  its  own  consump- 
tion, the  irritating  nature  of  Spanish  cookery  provides  a  never- 
failing  inducement.  The  constant  use  of  the  savory  class  of  con- 
diments and  of  pepper  is  very  heating,  "  la  pimienta  escalienta" 
A  salt-fish,  ham  and  sausage  diet  creates  thirst ;  a  good  rasher 
of  bacon  calls  loudly  for  a  corresponding  long  and  strong  pull  at 
the  "  bota,"  "  a  torresno  de  tocino,  buen  golpe  de  vino." 

This  digression  on  Iotas  will  be  pardoned  by  all  who,  having 
ridden  in  Spain,  know  the  absolute  necessity  of  them.  The 
traveller  will  of  course  remember  the  advice  given  by  the  rogue 
of  Ventero  to  Don  Quixote  to  take  shirts  and  money  with  him. 
"  Put  money  in  thy  purse"  said  also  honest  lago,  for  an  empty 
one  is  a  beggarly  companion  in  the  Peninsula  as  elsewhere. 
There  is  no  getting  to  Rome  or  to  Santiago  if  the  pilgrim's  scrip 
be  scanty,  or  his  mule  lame  :  Camino  de  Roma,  ni  mula  coja  m 
Bolsafloja. 

Practically  it  may  be  said,  that  there  is  no  paper  money  in 
Spain.  Notes  may  be  taken  in  some  of  the  larger  cities,  but  in 
the  provinces,  the  value  of  a  man  in  office's  promise  to  pay  on 


MONEY3  101 


paper,  is  not  considered  by  the  shrewa  natives  to  be  actually 
equal  to  cash  ;  while  they  will  readily  give  these  notes  to  for- 
eigners, they  prefer  for  their  own  use  the  old-fashioned  represen- 
tatives of  wealth,  gold  and  silver,  towards  the  smallest  fraction 
of  which  they  have  the  largest  possible  veneration.  Accounts 
are  usually  kept  in  rcales  de  vellon  of  royal  bullion ;  and  these 
are  subdivided  into  maravedis,  the  ancient  coin  of  the  Peninsula : 
there  are  minor  fractions  even  of  farthings,  consisting  in  material 
of  infinitesimal  bits  of  any  metals,  melted  church  bells,  old  can- 
non, &c.,  with  names  and  values  unknown  in  our  happy  land, 
where  not  much  is  to  be  got  for  a  mite ;  in  Spain,  where  cheap- 
ness of  earth-produce  is  commensurate  with  poverty,  anything, 
even  to  an  old  button,  goes  for  a  maravedi,  and  we  have  found 
that  in  changing  a  dollar  by  way  of  experiment  into  small  cop- 
pers in  the  market  at  Seville,  among  the  multitudinous  specimens 
of  Spanish  mints  of  all  periods,  Moorish  and  even  Roman  coins 
were  to  be  met  with,  and  still  current. 

The  dollar,  or  Duro,  of  Spain  is  well  known  all  over  the 
world,  being  the  form  under  which  silver  has  been  generally 
exported  from  the  Spanish  colonies  of  South  America.  It  is  the 
Italian  "  Colonato,"  so  called  because  the  arms  of  Spain  are 
supported  between  the  two  pillars  of  Hercules.  The  coinage  is 
slovenly :  it  is  the  weight  of  the  metal,  not  the  form  which  is 
looked  to  by  the  Spaniard,  who,  like  the  Turk,  is  not  so  clever 
a  workman  or  mechanist  as  devout  worshipper  of  bullion.  Fer- 
dinand VII.  continued  for  a  long  while  to  strike  money  with 
his  father's  head,  having  only  had  the  lettering  altered  :  thus 
early  Trajans  exhibit  the  head  of  Nero.  When  the  Cortes  en- 
tered Madrid  after  the  Duke's  victory  at  Salamanca,  they 
patriotically  prohibited  the  currency  of  all  coins  bearing  the 
head  of  the  intrusive  Joseph ;  yet  his  dollars  being  chiefly  made 
out  of  stolen  church  plate,  gilt  and  ungilt,  were,  although  those 
of  an  usurper,  intrinsically  worth  more  than  the  legitimate  duro : 
this  was  a  too  severe  test  for  the  loyalty  of  those  whose  real  king 
and  god  is  cash.  Such  a  decree  was  worthy  of  senators  who  were 
busier  employed  in  expelling  French  tropes  from  their  dictionary 
than  French  troops  from  their  country.  The  wiser  Chinese 
take  Ferdinand's  and  Joseph's  dollars  alike,  calling  them  both 


102  WlE-  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

"  devil's  head"  money.  These  bad  prejudices  against  good  coin 
have  now  given  way  to  the  march  of  intellect ;  nay,  the  five- 
franc  piece  with  Louis-Phillippe's  clever  head  on  it  bids  fair  to 
oust  the  pillared  Duro.  The  silver  of  the  mines  of  Murcia  is 
exported  to  France,  where  it  is  coined,  and  sent  back  in  the 
manufactured  shape.  France  thus  gains  a  handsome  per  centage, 
and  habituates  the  people  to  her  image  of  power,  which  comes 
recommended  to  them  in  the  most  acceptable  likeness  of  current 
coin. 

In  Spain  cash,  ambrosial  cash,  rules  the  court,  the  camp,  the 
grove ;  hence  the  extraordinary  credit  of  three  millions  recently 
required  for  the  secret  service  expenses  of  the  Tuileries,  and 
official  enthusiasm  and  unanimity  secured  thereby  in  the  Mont- 
pensier  purchase.  The  whole  decalogue  is  condensed  at  Madrid 
into  one  commandment,  Love  God  as  represented  on  earth  not  by 
his  vicar  the  Pope,  but  by  his  lord-lieutenant,  Don  Ducat. 

El  primer o  es  amar  Don  Dinero, 

Dios  es  omnipotente^  Don  Dinero  es  su  lugartenienteP 

Thus  grandees  and  men  in  Spanish  offices,  both  governmental  and 
printing  ones,  have  preferred  the  other  day  five-franc  pieces  to 
the  ribbons  of  the  legion  of  honor  ;  nor  considering  the  swindlers 
on  whom  this  badge  of  Austerlitz  has  been  prostituted,  were 
these  worthy  Castilians  much  out  in  their  calculations,  if  there 
be  any  truth  in  the  catechism  of  FalstafF. 

The  gold  coinage  is  magnificent,  and  worthy  of  the  country 
and  period  from  which  Europe  was  supplied  with  the  precious 
metals.  The  largest  piece,  the  ounce,  "  onza,"  is  worth  sixteen 
dollars,  or  about  3/.  6*.  ;  and  while  it  puts  to  shame  the  dimi- 
nutive Napoleons  of  France  and  sovereigns  of  England,  tells  the 
tale  of  Spain's  former  wealth,  and  contrasts  strangely  with  her 
present  poverty  and  scarcity  of  specie ;  these  large  coins  have 
however  been  so  sweated,  not  by  the  sun  but  by  Jews,  foreign 
and  domestic,  so  clipped  worse  than  Spanish  mules  or  French 
poodles,  that  they  seldom  retain  their  proper  weight  and  value. 
They  are  accordingly  looked  upon  every  where  with  suspicion  ; 
a  shopkeeper  in  a  big  town,  brings  out  his  scales  like  Shylock, 
while  in  a  village,  shrugs,  ajos,  and  negative  expressions  are  your 


AVARICE   OF    SPANIARDS.  103 

change ;  nor,  even  if  the  natives  are  satisfied  that  they  are  not 
light,  can  sixteen  dollars  be  often  met  with,  nor  do  those  who 
have  so  much  ready  money  by  them  ever  wish  that  the  fact 
should  be  generally  known.  Spaniards,  like  the  Orientals,  have 
a  dread  of  being  supposed  to  have  money  in  their  possession ;  it 
exposes  them  to  be  plundered  by  robbers  of  all  kinds,  professional 
or  legal ;  by  the  "  alcalde"  or  village  authority,  and  the  "  escri- 
bano"  the  attorney,  to  say  nothing  of  Senor  Mon's  tax- 
gatherer  ;  for  the  quota  of  contributions,  many  of  which  are 
apportioned  among  the  inhabitants  themselves  of  each  district, 
falls  heaviest  on  those  who  have,  or  are  supposed  to  have,  the 
most  ready  money. 

The  lower  classes  of  Spaniards,  like  the  Orientals,  are  gene- 
rally avaricious.  They  see  that  wealth  is  safety  and  power, 
where  everything  is  venal ;  the  feeling  of  insecurity  makes  them 
eager  to  invest  what  they  have  in  a  small  and  easily  concealed 
bulk,  "  en  lo  que  no  habla"  "in  that  which  does  not  tell  tales." 
Consequently,  and  in  self-defence,  they  are  much  addicted  to 
hoarding.  The  idea  of  finding  hidden  treasures,  which  prevails 
in  Spain  as  in  the  East,  is  based  on  some  grounds ;  for  in  every 
country  which  has  been  much  exposed  to  foreign  invasions,  civil 
wars,  and  domestic  misrule,  where  there  were  no  safe  modes  of 
investment,  in  moments  of  danger  property  was  converted  into 
gold  or  jewels  and  concealed  with  singular  ingenuity.  The  mis- 
trust which  Spaniards  entertain  of  each  other  often  extends,  when 
cash  is  in  the  case,  even  to  the  nearest  relations,  to  wife  and 
children.  Many  a  treasure  is  thus  lost  from  the  accidental  death 
of  the  hider,  who,  dying  without  a  sign,  carries  his  secret  to  the 
grave,  adding  thereby  to  the  sincere  grief  of  his  widow  and  heir. 
One  of  the  old  vulgar  superstitions  in  Spain  is  an  idea  that  those 
who  were  born  on  a  Good  Friday,  the  day  of  mourning,  were 
gifted  with  a  power  of  seeing  into  the  earth  and  of  discovering 
hidden  treasures.  One  place  of  concealment  has  always  been 
under  the  bodies  in  graves ;  the  hiders  have  trusted  to  the  dead 
to  defend  vvhat  the  quick  could  not:  this  accounts  for  the  uni- 
versal desecration  of  tombs  and  churchyards  during  Buonaparte's 
invasion.  The  Gauls  growled  like  gowls  amid  the  churchyards  ; 
they  despoiled  the  mouldering  corpses  of  the  last  pledge  left  by 


104  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

weeping  affection ;  or,  as  Burke  observed  of  their  domestic 
doings,  they  unplumbed  the  dead  to  make  missiles  of  destruction 
against  the  living.  These  hordes,  in  their  horrid  flight  before  the 
advancing  Duke,  also  hid  much  of  their  ill-gotten  gains,  which 
to  this  day  are  hunted  after.  Who  has  forgotten  Borrow's  gra- 
phic picture  of  the  treasure-seeking  Mol  ?  At  this  very  moment 
the  authorities  of  San  Sebastian  are  narrowly  superintending  the 
diggings  of  an  old  Frenchwoman,  to  whom  some  dying  thief  at 
home  has  revealed  the  secret  of  a  buried  kettle  full  of  gold 
ounces. 

Having  provided  the  "  Spanish"  those  metallic  sinews  of  war, 
which  also  make  the  mare  go  in  peace,  a  prudent  master,  if  he 
intends  to  be  really  the  master,  will  hold  the  purse  himself,  and 
moreover,  will  keep  a  sharp  eye  on  it,  for  the  jingle  of  coin  dis- 
pels even  a  Spanish  siesta,  and  causes  many  a  sleepless  day  to 
every  listener,  from  the  beggar  to  the  queen  mother. 


SPANISH   SERVANTS.  105 


CHAPTER    X. 

Spanish  Servants:  their  Character — Travelling  Groom,  Cook,  and  Valet 

DON  QUIXOTE'S  first  thought,  after  having  determined  to  ride 
forth  into  Spain,  was  to  get  a  horse  ;  his  second  was  to  secure  a 
squire  ;  and  as  the  narrative  of  his  journey  is  still  an  excellent 
guide-book  for  modern  travellers,  his  example  is  not  to  be  slighted. 
A  good  Sancho  Panza  will  on  the  whole  be  found  to  be  a  more 
constant  comfort  to  a  knight-errant  than  even  a  Dulcinea.  To 
secure  a  really  good  servant  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  all 
who  make  out-of-the-way  excursions  in  the  Peninsula;  for,  as  in 
the  East,  he  becomes  often  not  only  cook,  but  interpreter  and 
companion  to  his  master.  It  is  therefore  of  great  importance  to 
get  a  person  with  whom  a  man  can  ramble  over  these  wild  scenes. 
The  so  doing  ends,  on  the  part  of  the  attendant,  in  an  almost 
canine  friendship ;  and  the  Spaniard,  when  the  tour  is  done,  is 
broken-hearted,  and  ready  lo  leave  his  home,  horse,  ass,  and  wife, 
to  follow  his  master,  like  a  dog,  to  the  world's  end.  Nine  times 
out  of  ten  it  is  the  master's  fault  if  he  has  bad  servants :  tel 
maitre  tel  valet.  Al  amo  imprudente,  el  mozo  negligente.  He  must 
begin  at  once,  and  exact  the  performance  of  their  duty  ;  the  only 
way  to  get  them  to  do  anything  is,  as  the  Duke  said,  to  "  frighten 
them,"  to  "take  a  decided  line."  It  is  very  difficult  to  make 
them  see  the  importance  of  detail  and  of  doing  exactly  what  they 
are  told,  which  they  will  always  endeavor  to  shirk  when  they 
can  ;  their  task  must  be  clearly  pointed  out  to  them  at  starting, 
and  the  earliest  and  smallest  infractions,  either  in  commission  or 
omission,  at  once  and  seriously  noticed,  the  moral  victory  is  soon 
gained.  The  example  of  the  masters,  if  they  be  active  and  or- 
derly, is  the  best  lesson  to  servants;  mucho  sale  el  rato,  pero  mas 
el  gato;  the  rats  are  well  enough,  but  the  cats  are  better.  Achil- 
les, Patroclus,  and  the  Homeric  heroes,  were  their  own  cooks  ; 


106  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

and  many  a  man  who,  like  Lord  Blayney,  may  not  be  a  hero, 
will  be  none  the  worse  for  following  the  epical  example,  in  a 
Spanish  venta :  at  all  events  a  good  servant,  who  is  up  to  his 
work,  and  will  work,  is  indeed  a  jewel ;  and  on  these,  as  on  other 
occasions,  he  deserves  to  be  well  treated.  Those  who  make 
themselves  honey  are  eaten  by  flies — quien  se  hac  miel,  le  comen 
las  moscas  ;  while  no  rat  ever  ventures  to  jest  with  the  cat's  son  ; 
con  liijo  de  gato,  no  se  burlan  los  ratones.  The  great  thing  is  to 
make  them  get  up  early,  and  learn  the  value  of  time,  which  the 
groom  cannot  tie  with  his  halter,  tiempo  y  hora,  no  se  ata  con  soga  ; 
v  while  a  cook  who  oversleeps  himself  not  only  misses  his  mass, 
but  his  meat,  quien  se  levanta  tarde,  ni  oye  misa,  ni  compra  came. 
If  (which  is  soon  found  out)  the  servants  seem  not  likely  to  answer, 
the  sooner  they  are  changed  the  better ;  it  is  loss  of  time  and  soap, 
and  he  who  is  good  for  nothing  in  his  own  village  will  not  be 
worth  more  either  in  Seville  or  elsewhere,  so  says  the  proverb. 

The  principal  defects  of  Spanish  servants  and  of  the  lower 
classes  of  Spaniards  are  much  the  same,  and  faults  of  race.  As 
a  mass,  they  are  apt  to  indulge  in  habits  of  procrastination,  waste, 
improvidence,  and  untidiness.  They  are  unmechanical  and  ob- 
stinate, easily  beaten  by  difficulties,  which  their  first  feeling  is  to 
raise,  and  their  next  to  succumb  to ;  they  give  the  thing  up  at 
once.  They  have  no  idea  indeed  of  grappling  with  anything 
that  requires  much  trouble,  or  of  doing  anything  as  it  ought  to  be 
done,  or  even  of  doing  the  same  thing  in  the  same  way — accident 
and  the  impulse  of  the  moment  set  them  going.  They  are  very 
unmechanical,  obstinate,  and  prejudiced;  ignorant  of  their  own 
ignorance  and  incurious  as  Orientals \  partly  from  pride,  self- 
opinion,  and  idleness,  they  seldom  will  ask  questions  for  infor- 
mation from  others,  which  implies  an  inferiority  of  knowledge, 
and  still  more  seldom  will  take  an  answer,  unless  it  be  such  a 
one  as  they  desire ;  their  own  wishes,  opinions,  and  wants  are 
their  guides,  and  self  the  centre  of  their  gravity,  not  those  of 
their  employers.  As  a  Spaniard's  yes,  when  you  beg  a  favor, 
generally  means  wo,  so  they  cannot  or  will  not  understand  that 
your  no  is  really  a  negative  when  they  come  petitioning  to  be 
idle ;  at  the  same  time  a  great  change  for  the  better  comes  over 
them  when  they  are  taken  out  of  the  city  on  a  rambling  tour. 


CHARACTER   OF   SPANISH  SERVANTS.  107 

The  nomad  life  excites  them  into  active  serviceable  fellows ;  in  fact 
the  uncertain  harum-scarum  nomad  existence  is  exactly  what  suits 
these  descendants  of  the  Arab  ;  they  cannot  bear  the  steady  sus- 
tained routine  of  a  well-managed  household ;  they  abhor  confine- 
ment ;  hence  the  difficulty  of  getting  Spaniards  to  garrison  for- 
tresses or  to  man  ships  of  war,  from  whence  there  is  no  escape. 

As  for  what  we  call  a  well-appointed  servants'  hall,  the  case  is 
hopeless  in  Spanish  field  or  city,  and  is  equally  so  whether  the 
life  be  above  or  below  stairs.  In  the  house  of  the  middle  or  high- 
est classes  this  is  particularly  shown  in  every  thing  that  regards 
gastronomies,  which  are  the  tests  and  touchstones  of  good  service. 
In  truth,  the  Spaniard,  accustomed  to  his  own  desultory,  free  and 
easy,  impromptu,  scrambling  style  of  dining,  is  constrained  by  the 
order  and  discipline,  the  pomp  and  ceremony,  and  serious  import- 
ance of  a  well-regulated  dinner,  and  their  observance  of  forms 
extends  only  to  persons,  not  to  things  :  even  the  grandee  has  only 
a  thin  European  polish  spread  over  his  Gotho-Bedouin  dining- 
table  •  he  lives  and  eats  surrounded  by  an  humble  clique,  in  his 
huge,  ill- furnished  barrack-house,  without  any  elegance,  luxury, 
or  even  comfort,  according  to  sound  trans-pyrenean  notions;  few 
indeed  are  the  kitchens  which  possess  a  cordon  bleu,  and  fewer 
are  the  masters  who  really  like  an  orthodox  entree,  one  unpolluted 
with  the  heresies  of  garlic  and  red  pepper :  again,  whenever  their 
cookery  attempts  to  be  foreign,  as  in  their  other  imitations,  it  ends 
in  being  a  flavorless  copy ;  but  few  things  are  ever  done  in  Spain 
in  real  style,  which  implies  forethought  and  expense ;  everything 
is  a  make-shift ;  the  noble  master  reposes  his  affairs  on  an  unjust 
steward,  and  dozes  away  life  on  this  bed  of  roses,  somnolescent 
over  business  and  awake  only  to  intrigue ;  his  numerous  ill-con- 
ditioned, ill-appointed  servants  have  no  idea  of  discipline  or  sub- 
ordination ;  you  never  can  calculate  on  their  laying  even  the 
table-cloth,  as  they  prefer  idling  in  the  church  or  market  to  doing 
their  duty,  and  would  rather  starve,  dance,  and  sleep  out  of  place 
and  independently,  than  feast  and  earn  their  wages  by  fair  work ; 
nor  has  the  employer  any  redress,  for  if  he  dismisses  them  he  will 
only  get  just  such  another  set,  or  even  worse. 

In  our  own  Spanish  household,  the  instant  dinner  and  siesta 
were  over,  the  cook  with  his  kitchen-man  the  valet  with  the  foot- 


108  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

man  invariably  stripped  off  their  working-apparel — liveries  are 
almost  unheard  of — donned  their  conical  velvet  embroidered  hats, 
their  sky-blue  waistcoats,  and  scarlet  sashes,  and  were  off  with  a 
guitar  to  some  scene  of  song  and  love-making,  leaving  their  mas- 
ter alone  in  his  glory  to  moralize  on  the  uncertainty  of  human 
concerns  and  the  faithlessness  of  mankind. 

What  can't  be  cured  must  be  endured.  To  resume,  therefore, 
the  character  of  these  Spanish  servants;  they  are  very  loquacious, 
and  highly  credulous,  as  often  is  the  case  with  those  given  to  ro- 
mancing, which  they,  and  especially  the  Andalucians,  are  to  a 
large  degree ;  and,  in  fact,  it  is  the  only  remaining  romance  in 
Spain,  as  far  as  the  natives  are  concerned.  As  they  have  an  es- 
pecial good  opinion  of  themselves,  they  are  touchy,  sensitive, 
jealous,  and  thin-skinned,  and  easily  affronted  whenever  their  im- 
perfections are  pointed  out ;  their  disposition  is  very  sanguine  and 
inflammable ;  they  are  always  hoping  that  what  they  eagerly  de- 
sire will  come  to  pass  without  any  great  exertion  on  their  parts  ; 
they  love  to  stand  still  with  their  arms  folded,  while  other  men  put 
their  shoulders  to  the  wheel.  Their  lively  imagination  is  very 
apt  to  carry  them  away  into  extremes  for  good  or  evil,  when  they 
act  on  the  moment  like  children,  and  having  gratified  the  humor 
of  the  impulse  relapse  into  their  ordinary  tranquillity,  which  is 
that  of  a  slumbering  volcano.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  full 
of  excellent  and  redeeming  good  qualities  ;  they  are  free  from 
caprice,  are  hardy,  patient,  cheerful,  good-humored,  sharp-witted, 
and  intelligent ;  they  are  honest,  faithful,  and  trustworthy ;  sober, 
and  unaddicted  to  mean,  vulgar  vices ;  they  have  a  bold,  manly 
bearing,  and  will  follow  well  wherever  they  are  well  led,  being 
the  raw  material  of  as  good  soldiers  as  are  in  the  world ;  they  are 
loyal  and  religious  at  heart,  and  full  of  natural  tact,  mother-wit, 
and  innate  good  manners.  In  general,  a  firm,  quiet,  courteous, 
and  somewhat  reserved  manner  is  the  most  effective.  Whenever 
duties  are  to  be  performed,  let  them  see  that  you  are  not  to  be  tri- 
fled with.  The  coolness  of  a  determined  Englishman's  manner, 
when  in  earnest,  is  what  few  foreigners  can  withstand.  Grimace 
and  gesticulation,  sound  and  fury,  bluster,  petulance,  and  imper- 
tinence fume  and  fret  in  vain  against  it,  as  the  sprays  and  foam  of 


SPANISH  AND   ENGLISH   MANNERS.  109 

the  "  French  lake"  do  against  the  unmoved  and  immovable  rock 
of  Gibraltar. 

An  Englishman,  without  being  over-familiar,  may  venture  on 
a  far  greater  degree  of  unbending  in  his  intercourse  with  his 
Spanish  dependants  than  he  can  dar,3  to  do  with  those  he  has  in 
England.  It  is  the  custom  of  the  country  ;  they  are  used  to  it, 
and  their  heads  are  not  turned  by  it,  nor  do  they  ever  forget  their 
relative  positions.  The  Spaniards  treat  their  servants  very  much 
like  the  ancient  Romans  or  the  modern  Moors ;  they  are  more 
their  vernce,  their  domestic  slaves  :  it  is  the  absolute  authority  of 
the  father  combined  with  the  kindness.  Servants  do  not  often 
change  their  masters  in  Spain  :  their  relation  arid  duties  are  so 
clearly  defined,  that  the  latter  runs  no  risk  of  compromising  him- 
self or  his  dignity  by  his  familiarity,  which  can  be  laid  down  or 
taken  up  at  his  own  pleasure  ;  whereas  the  scorn,  contempt,  and 
distance  with  which  the  said  courteous  Don  would  treat  a  rotu- 
rier  who  presumed  to  be  intimate,  baffle  description.  In  England 
no  man  dares  to  be  intimate  with  his  footman  ;  for  supposing 
even  such  absurd  fancy  entered  his  brain,  his  footman  is  his  equal 
in  the  eye  of  man-made  law,  God  having  created  them  utterly  un- 
equal in  all  his  gifts,  whether  of  rank,  wealth,  form,  or  intellect. 
Conventional  barriers  accordingly  must  be  erected  in  self-defence  : 
and  social  barriers  are  more  difficult  to  be  passed  than  walls  of 
brass,  more  impossible  to  be  repealed  than  the  whole  statutes  at 
large.  No  master  in  Spain,  and  still  less  a  foreigner,  should  ever 
descend  to  personal  abuse,  sneers,  or  violence.  A  blow  is  never  to 
be  washed  out  except  in  blood,  and  Spanish  revenge  descends  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generation  ;  and  whatever  these  backward  Span- 
iards have  to  learn  from  foreigners,  it  is  not  the  duty  of  revenge, 
nor  how  to  perform  it.  There  should  be  no  threatenings  in  vain, 
but  whenever  the  opportunity  occurs  for  punishment,  let  it  be  done 
quietly  and  effectively,  and  the  fault  once  punished  should  not  be 
needlessly  ripped  up  again  ;  Spaniards  are  sufficiently  unforgiv- 
ing, and  hoarders-up  of  unrevenged  grievances  require  to  be  re- 
minded. A  kind  and  uniform  behavior,  a  showing  consideration  to 
them,  in  a  manner  which  implies  that  you  are  acccustomed  to  it, 
and  expect  it  to  be  shown  to  you,  keeps  most  things  in  their  right 
places.  Temper  and  patience  are  the  great  requisites  in  the  mas- 


iiO  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

ler,  especially  when  he  speaks  the  language  imperfectly.  He  must 
not  think  Spaniards  stupid  because  they  cannot  guess  the  meaning 
of  his  unknown  tongue.  Nothing  again  is  gained  by  fidgeting  and 
overdoing,  and  however  early  you  may  get  up,  daybreak  will  not 
take  place  the  sooner :  no  por  mucho  madrugar,  amanece  mas  te-m- 
prano.  Let  well  alone  :  be  not  zealous  overmuch  :  be  occasion- 
ally both  blind  and  deaf:  shut  the  door,  and  the  devil  passes  by  : 
keep  honey  in  mouth  and  an  eye  to  your  cash  :  miel  en  boca  y 
guarda  la  bolsa.  Still  how  much  less  expenditure  is  necessary  in 
Spain  than  in  performing  the  commonest  excursion  in  England  ! 
— and  yet  many  who  submit  to  their  own  countrymen's  extor- 
tions are  furious  at  what  they  imagine  is  an  especial  cheating  of 
them,  quasi  Englishmen,  abroad  :  this  outrageous  economy,  with 
which  some  are  afflicted,  is  penny  wise  and  pound  foolish  :  pay, 
pay  therefore  with  both  hands.  The  traveller  must  remember 
that,  he  gains  caste,  gets  brevet  rank  in  Spain — that  he  is  taken 
for  a  grandee  incog.,  and  ranks  with  their  nobility;  he  must  pay 
for  these  luxuries  :  how  small  after  all  will  be  the  additional  per 
centage  on  his  general  expenditure,  and  how  well  bestowed  is 
the  excess  in  keeping  the  temper  good,  and  the  capability  of  en- 
joying unruffled  a  tour,  which  only  is  performed  once  in  a  life ! 
No  wise  man  who  goes  into  Spain  for  amusement  will  plunge 
into  this  guerrilla,  this  constant  petty  warfare,  about  sixpences. 
Let  the  traveller  be  true  to  himself;  hold  his  tongue;  avoid  bad 
company,  quien  liace  su  cama  con  perros,  se  levanta  con  pulgas, 
those  who  sleep  with  dogs  get  up  with  fleas  ;  and  make  room  for 
bulls  and  fools,  al  loco  y  toro  da  le  corro,  and  he  may  see  Spain 
agreeably,  and,  as  Catullus  said  to  Veranius,  who  made  the  tour 
many  centuries  ago,  may  on  his  return  amuse  his  friends  and 
"  old  mother  :" — 

"  Visam  te  incolumem,  audiamque  Iberum 
Narrantem  loca,  facta,  nationes, 
Sicut  tuus  est  mos." 

whieh  may  be  thus  Englished  : — - 

May  you  come  back  safe,  and  tell 

Of  Spanish  men,  their  things  and  places, 

Of  Spanish  ladies'  eyes  and  faces,  * 

In  your  own  way,  and  so  well. 


TRAVELLING  SERVANTS  111 

Two  masters  should  take  two  servants,  and  both  should  be 
Spaniards :  all  others,  unless  they  speak  the  language  perfectly, 
are  nuisances.  A  Gallegan  or  Asturian  makes  the  best  groom, 
an  Andaluz  the  best  cook  and  personal  attendant.  Sometimes  a 
person  may  be  picked  up  who  has  some  knowledge  of  languages, 
and  who  is  accustomed  to  accompany  strangers  through  Spain  as 
a  sort  of  courier.  These  accomplishments  are  very  rare,  and  the 
moral  qualities  of  the  possessor  often  diminish  in  proportion  as 
his  intellect  has  marched  ;  he  has  learnt  more  foreign  tricks  than 
words,  and  sea-port  towns  are  not  the  best  schools  for  honesty. 
Of  these  nondescripts  the  Hispano-Anglo,  who  generally  has  de- 
serted from  Gibraltar,  is  the  best,  because  he  will  work,  hold  his 
tongue,  and  fight ;  a  monkey  would  be  a  less  inconvenience  than 
a  chattering  Ibero-Gallo  ;  one  who  has  forgotten  his  national  ac- 
complishments— cooking  and  hairdressing,  and  learnt  very  few 
Spanish  things,  such  as  good  temper  and  endurance.  Whichever 
of  the  two  is  the  sharpest  should  lead  the  way,  and  leave  the  other 
to  bring  up  the  rear.  They  should  be  mounted  on  good  mules, 
and  be  provided  with  large  panniers.  One  should  act  as  the  cook 
and  valet,  the  other  as  the  groom  of  the  party ;  and  the  utensils 
peculiar  to  each  department  should  be  carried  by  each  professor. 
Where  only  one  servant  is  employed,  one  side  of  the  pannier 
should  be  dedicated  to  the  commissariat,  and  the  other  to  the  lug- 
gage ;  in  that  case  the  master  should  have  a  flying  portmanteau, 
which  should  be  sent  by  means  of  cosarios,  and  precede  him 
from  great  town  to  great  town,  as  a  magazine,  wardrobe,  or  gene- 
ral supply  to  fall  back  on.  The  servants  should  each  have  their 
own  saddle-bag  and  leathern  bottle,  which,  since  the  days  of 
Sancho  Panza,  are  part  and  parcel  of  a  faithful  squire,  and 
when  all  are  carried  on  an  ass  are  quite  patriarchal.  "  Iba 
Sancho  Panza  solre  sujumento,  como  un  patriarca  con  sus  alfor- 
jas  y  bota." 

The  servants  will  each  in  their  line  look  after  their  own  affairs  ; 
the  .groom  will  take  with  him  the  things  of  the  stable,  and  a  small 
provision  of  corn,  in  order  that  a  feed  may  never  be  wanting,  on 
an  unexpected  emergency  ;  he  will  always  ascertain  beforehand 
through  what  sort  of  a  country  each  day's  journey  is  to  be  made, 
find  make  preparations  accordingly.  The  valet  will  view  his 


112  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   JOUNTRY. 


masters  in  the  same  light  as  the  groom  does  his  beasts  ;  and  he 
will  purvey  and  keep  in  readiness  all  that  appertains  to  their 
comfort,  always  remembering  a  moskito  net — we  shall  presently 
say  a  word  on  the  fly-plague  of  the  Peninsula — with  nails  to 
knock  into  the  walls  to  hang  it  up  by,  not  forgetting  a  hammer 
and  gimlet  •  common  articles  enough,  but  which  are  never  to  be 
got  at  the  moment  and  place  where  they  are  the  most  wanted. 
He  will  also  carry  a  small  canteen,  the  smaller  and  rqore  ordi- 
nary the  better,  as  anything  out  of  the  common  way  attracts  at- 
tention, and  suggests,  first,  the  coveting  other  men's  goods,  and  so 
on  to  assaults,  batteries,  robberies,  and  other  inconveniences, 
which  have  been  exploded  on  our  roads  ;  although  M.  Moryson 
took  care  to  caution  our  ancestors  "  to  be  warie  on  this  head, 
since  theeves  have  their  spies  commonly  in  all  innes,  to  enquire 
into  the  condition  of  travellers."  The  manufactures  of  Spain 
are  so  rude  and  valueless  that  what  appears  to  us  to  be  the  most 
ordinary  appears  to  them  to  be  the  most  excellent,  as  they  have 
never  seen  anything  so  good.  The  lower  orders,  who  eat  with 
their  fingers,  think  everything  is  gold  which  glitters,  todo  es  oro 
lo  que  reluce  ;  as,  after  all,  it  is  what  is  on  the  plate  that  is  the 
rub,  let  no  wise  man  have  such  smart  forks  and  knives  as  to 
tempt  cut-throats  to  turn  them  to  unnatural  purposes.  However, 
avoid  all  superfluous  luggage,  especially  prejudices  and  foregone 
conclusions,  for  "  en  largo  camirio  paja  pesa"  a  straw  is  heavy 
on  a  long  journey,  and  the  last  feather  breaks  the  horse's  back. 
A  store  of  cigars,  however,  must  always  be  excepted  ;  take 
plenty  and  give  them  freely  ;  it  always  opens  a  conversation  well 
with  a  Spaniard,  to  offer  him  one  of  these  little  delicate  marks  of 
attention.  Good  snuff  is  acceptable  to  the  curates  and  to  monks 
(though  there  are  none  just  now).  English  needles,  thread,  and 
pairs  of  scissors  take  no  room,  and  are  all  keys  to  the  good  graces 
of  the  fair  sex.  There  is  a  charm  about  a  present,  bachshish,  in 
most  European  as  well  as  Oriental  countries,  and  still  more  if  it 
is  given  with  tact,  and  at  the  proper  time  ;  Spaniards,  if  unable 
to  make  any  equivalent  return,  will  always  try  to  repay  by  civili- 
ties and  attentions. 

Every  one  must  determine  for  himself  whether  he  prefers  the 
assistance  of  this  servant  in  the  kitchen  or  at  the  toilet ;  since  it 


COOKING   UTENSILS.  113 


is  not  easy  for  mortal  man  to  dress  a  master  and  a  dinner,  and 
both  well  at  the  same  time,  let  alone  two  masters.  A  cook  who 
runs  after  two  hares  at  once  catches  neither.  No  prudent  trav- 
eller on  these,  or  any  occasions,  should  let  another  do  for  him 
what  he  can  do  for  himself,  arid  a  man  who  waits  upon  himself 
is  sure  to  be  well  waited  on.  If,  however,  a  valet  be  absolutely 
necessary,  the  groom  clearly  is  best  left  in  his  own  chamber,  the 
stable ;  he  will  have  enough  to  do  to  curry  arid  valet  his  four 
animals,  which  he  knows  to  be  good  for  their  health,  though  he 
never  scrapes  off  the  cutaneous  stucco  by  which  his  own  illote 
carcass  is  Roman  cemented.  From  long  experience  we  have 
found  that  if  the  rider  will  get  into  the  habit  of  carrying  all  the 
things  requisite  for  his  own  dressing  in  a  small  separate  bag,  and 
employ  the  hour  while  the  cook  is  getting  the  supper  under 
weigh,  it  is  wonderful  how  comfortably  he  will  proceed  to  his 
puchero. 

The  cook  should  take  with  him  a  stewing-pan,  and  a  pot  or 
kettle  for  boiling  water  ;  he  need  not  lumber  himself  with  much 
batterie  de  cuisine  ;  it  is  not  much  needed  in  the  imperfect  gas- 
tronomy  of  the  Peninsula,  where  men  eat  like  the  beasts  which 
perish  ;  all  sort  of  artillery  is  rather  rare  in  Spanish  kitchen  01 
fortress ;  an  hidalgo  would  as  soon  think  of  having  a  voltaic  bat- 
tery  in  his  sitting-room  as  a  copper  one  in  his  cuisine ;  most 
classes  are  equally  satisfied  with  the  Oriental  earthenware  ollas, 
pucheros,  or  pipkins,  which  are  everywhere  to  be  found,  and 
have  some  peculiar  sympathy  with  the  Spanish  cuisine,  since  a 
stew — be  it  even  of  a  cat — never  eats  so  well  when  made  in  a 
metal  vessel ;  the  great  thing  is  to  bring  the  raw  materials, — first 
catch  your  hare.  Those  who  have  meat  and  money  will  always 
get  a  neighbor  to  lend  them  a  pot.  A  venta  is  a  place  where  the 
rich  are  sent  empty  away,  and  where  the  *poor  hungry  are  not 
filled  ;  the  whole  duty  of  the  man-cook,  therefore,  is  to  be  always 
thinking  of  his  commissariat ;  he  need  not  trouble  himself  about 
his  master's  appetite,  that  will  seldom  fail, — nay,  often  be  a  mis- 
fortune ;  a  good  appetite  is  not  a  good  per  se,*  for  it,  even  when 

#  When  George  IV.  once  complained  that  he  had  lost  his  royal  appetite, 
"What  a  scrape,  sir,  a  poor  man  would  be  in  if  he  found  ii!"  said  his 
Rochester  companion. 


114  THE  SPANIARDS  AND    THEIR   COUNTRY. 

the  best,  becomes  a  bore  when  there  is  nothing  to  eat ;  his  capu- 
cho  or  mule  hamper  must  be  his  travelling  larder,  cellar,  and 
store-room ;  he  will  victual  himself  according  to  the  route,  and 
the  distances  from  one  great  town  to  another,  and  always  take 
care  to  start  with  a  good  provision  :  indeed  to  attend  to  the  com- 
missariat is,  it  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  the  whole  duty  of  a 
man  cook  in  hungry  Spain,  where  food  has  ever  been  the  diffi- 
culty ;  a  little  foresight  gives  small  trouble  and  ensures  great 
comfort,  while  perils  by  sea  and  perils  by  land  are  doubled  when 
the  stomach  is  empty,  whereas,  as  Sancho  Panza  wisely  told  his 
ass,  all  sorrows  are  alleviated  by  eating  bread  :  todos  los  duelos, 
con  pan  son  buenos,  and  the  shrewd  squire,  who  seldom  is  wrong, 
was  right  both  in  the  matter  of  bread  and  the  moral :  the  former 
is  admirable.  The  central  table-lands  of  Spain  are  perhaps  the 
finest  wheat-growing  districts  in  the  world  ;  however  rude  and 
imperfect  the  cultivation — for  the  peasant  does  not  scratch  the 
earth,  and  seldom  manures — the  life-conferring  sun  comes  to  his 
assistance  ;  the  returns  are  prodigious,  and  the  quality  super- 
excellent  ;  yet  the  growers,  miserable  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  ve- 
getate in  cabins  composed  of  baked  mud,  or  in  holes  burrowed 
among  the  friable  hillocks,  in  an  utter  ignorance  of  furniture, 
and  absolute  necessaries.  The  .want  of  roads,  canals,  and  means 
of  transport  prevents  their  exportation  of  produce,  which  from  its 
bulk  is  difficult  of  carriage  in  a  country  where  grain  is  removed 
for  the  most  part  on  four-footed  beasts  of  burden,  after  the  orien- 
tal and  patriarchal  fashion  of  Jacob,  when  he  sent  to  the  grana- 
ries of  Egypt.  Accordingly,  although  there  are  neither  sliding 
scales  nor  corn  laws,  and  subsistence  is  cheap  and  abundant,  the 
population  decreases  in  number  and  increases  in  wretchedness  ; 
what  boots  it  if  corn  be  low-priced,  if  wages  be  still  lower,  as 
they  then  everywhere  are  and  must  be  ?  • 

The  finest,  bread  in  Spain  is  called  pan  de  candeal,  which  is 
«aten  by  men  in  office  and  others  in  easy  circumstances,  as  it  was 
by  the  clergy.  The  worst  bread  is  the  pan  de  munition,  and 
forms  the"  fare  of  the  Spanish  soldiers,  which,  being  sable  as  a  hat, 
coarse  and  hard  as  a  brickbat,  would  just  do  to  sop  in  the  black 
broth  of  the  Spartan  military  ;  indeed,  the  expression  de  munition 
is  synonymous  in  the  Peninsula  with  badness  of  quality,  and  the 


THRESHING  AND    WINNOWING.  115 

secondary  meaning  is  taken  from  the  perfection  of  badness  which 
is  perceptible  in  every  thing  connected  with  Spanish  ammunition, 
from  the  knapsack  to  the  citadel.  Such  bread  and  water,  and 
both  hardly  earned,  are  the  rations  of  the  poor  patient  Spanish 
private  ;  nor  can  he  when  before  the  enemy  reckon  always  on 
even  that,  unless  it  be  supplied  from  an  ally's  commissariat. 

Perhaps  the  best  bread  in  Spain  is  made  at  Alcala  de  Guadaira, 
near  Seville,  of  which  it  is  the  oven,  and  hence  the  town  is  called 
the  Alcala  of  bakers.  There  bread  may  truly  be  said  to  be  the 
soul  of  its  existence,  and  samples  abound  everywhere :  roscas, 
or  circular-formed  rusks,  are  hung  up  like  garlands,  and  hogazas, 
loaves,  placed  on  tables  outside  the  houses.  It  is,  indeed,  as 
Spaniards  say,  Pan  de  Dios — the  "  angejs'  bread  of  Esdras."  All 
classes  here  gain  their  bread  by  making  it,  and  the  water-mills 
and  mule-mills  are  never  still ;  women  and  children  are  busy 
picking  out  earthy  particles  from  the  grain,  which  get  mixed  from 
the  common  mode  of  threshing  on  a  floor  in  the  open  air,  which 
is  at  once  Biblical  and  Homeric.  At  the  outside  of  the  villages, 
in  corn-growing  districts,  a  smooth  open  "  threshing-floor"  is  pre- 
pared, with  a  hard  surface,  like  a  fives  court :  it  is  called  the  era. 
and  is  the  precise  Roman  area.  The  sheaves  of  corn  are  spread 
out  on  it,  and  four  horses  yoked  most  classically  to  a  low  crate  or 
harrow,  composed  of  planks  armed  with  flints,  &c.,  which  is 
called  a  trillo :  on  this  the  driver  is  seated,  who  urges  the  beasts 
round  and  round  over  the  crushed  heap.  Thus  the  grain  is 
shaken  out  of  the  ears  and  the  straw  triturated  ;  the  latter  becomes 
food  for  horses,  as  the  former  does  for  men.  When  the  heap  is 
sufficiently  bruised,  it  is  removed  and  winnowed  by  being  thrown 
up  into  the  air  ;  the  light  winds  carry  off*  the  chaff',  while  the 
heavy  corn  falls  to  the  ground.  The  whole  operation  is  truly 
picturesque  and  singular.  The  scene  is  a  crowded  one,  as  many 
cultivators  contribute  to  the  mass  and  share  in  the  labor ;  their 
wives  and  children  cluster  around,  clad  in  strange  dresses  of  varied 
colors.  They  are  sometimes  sheltered  from  the  god  of  fire  under 
boughs,  reeds  and  awnings,  run  up  as  if  for  the  painter,  and  fall- 
ing of  themselves  into  pictures,  as  the  lower  classes  of  Spaniards 
and  Italians  always  do.  They  are  either  eating  and  drinking, 
singing  or  dancing,  for  a  guitar  is  never  wanting.  Meanwhile 


116  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  fierce  horses  dash  over  the  prostrate  sheaves,  and  realize  the 
splendid  simile  of  Homer,  who  likens  to  them  the  fiery  steeds  of 
Achilles  when  driven  over  Trojan  bodies.  These  out-of-door 
threshings  take  place  of  course  when  the  weather  is  dry,  and 
generally  under  a  most  terrific  heat.  The  work  is  often  con- 
tinued at  night-fall  by  torch-light.  During  the  day  the  half-clad 
dusky  reapers  defy  the  sun  and  his  rage,  rejoicing  rather  in  the 
heat  like  salamanders  ;  it  is  true  that  their  devotions  to  the  porous 
water-jar  are  unremitting,  nor  is  a  swill  at  a  good  passenger's 
bota  ever  rejected ;  all  is  life  and  action  ;  busy  hands  and  feet, 
flashing  eyes,  and  eager  screams ;  the  light  yellow  chaff,  which 
in  the  sun's  rays  glitters  like  gold  dust,  envelopes  them  in  a  halo, 
which  by  night,  when  partially  revealed  by  the  fires  and  mingled 
with  the  torch  glare,  is  almost  supernatural,  as  the  phantom 
figures,  now  dark  in  shadows,  now  crimsoned  by  the  fire  flash, 
flit  to  and  fro  in  the  vaporous  mist.  The  scene  never  fails  to 
rivet  and  enchant  the  stranger,  who,  coming  from  the  pale  north 
and  the  commonplace  in-door  flail,  seizes  at  once  all  the  novelty 
of  such  doings.  Eye  and  ear,  open  and  awake,  become  inlets  of 
new  sensations  of  attention  and  admiration,  and  convey  to  heart 
and  mind  the  poetry,  local  color,  movement,  grouping,  action, 
and  attitude.  But  while  the  cold-blooded  native  of  leaden  skies 
is  full  of  fire  and  enthusiasm,  his  Spanish  companion,  bred  and 
born  under  unshorn  beams,  is  chilly  as  an  icicle,  indifferent  as 
an  Arab:  he  passes  on  the  other  side,  not  only  not  admiring,  but 
positively  ashamed ;  he  only  sees  the  barbarity,  antiquity,  and 
imperfect  process  ;  he  is  sighing  for  some  patent  machine  made 
in  Birmingham, ':  o  be  put  up  in  a  closed  barn  after  the  models 
approved  of  by  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  in  Cavendish 
Square ;  his  bowels  yearn  for  the  appliances  of  civilization  by 
which  "  bread  stuffs"  are  more  scientifically  manipulated  and 
manufactured,  minus  the  poetry. 

To  return,  however  to  dry  bread,  after  this  new  digression, 
and  all  those  who  have  ever  been  in  Spain,  or  have  ever  written 
on  Spanish  things,  must  feel  how  difficult  it  is  to  keep  regularly 
on  the  road  without  turning  aside  at  every  moment,  now  to  cull 
a  wild  flower,  now  to  pick  up  a  sparkling  spar.  This  corn,  so 
beaten,  is  very  carefully  ground,  and  in  La  Mancha  in  those 


LUNCHEON.  117 


charming  windmills,  which,  perched  on  eminences  to  catch  the 
air,  look  to  this  day,  with  their  outstretched  arms,  like  Quixotic 
giants  ;  the  flour  is  passed  through  several  hoppers,  in  order  to 
secure  its  fineness.  The  dough  is  most  carefully  kneaded, 
worked,  and  re- worked,  as  is  done  by  our  biscuit-makers  ;  hence 
the  close-grained,  caky,  somewhat  heavy  consistency  of  the 
crumb,  whereas,  according  to  Pliny,  the  Romans  esteemed  Span- 
ish bread  on  account  of  its  lightness. 

The  Spanish  loaf  has  not  that  mysterious  sympathy  with  butter 
and  cheese  as  it  has  in  our  verdurous  Old  England,  probably  be- 
cause in  these  torrid  regions  pasture  is  rare,  butter  bad,  and 
cheese  worse,  albeit  they  suited  the  iron  digestion  of  Sancho,  who 
knew  of  nothing  better ;  none,  however,  who  have  ever  tasted 
Stilton  or  Parmesan  will  join  in  his  eulogies  of  Castilian  queso, 
the  poorness  of  which  will  be  estimated  by  the  distinguished  con- 
sideration in  which  a  round  cannon-ball  Dutch  cheese  is  held 
throughout  the  Peninsula.  The  traveller,  nevertheless,  should 
take  one  of  them,  for  bad  is  here  the  best,  in  many  other  things' 
besides  these :  he  will  always  carry  some  good  loaves  with  it,  for 
in  the  damper-mountain  districts  the  daily  bread  of  the  natives  is 
made  of  rye,  Indian  corn,  and  the  inferior  cerealia.  Bread  is 
the  staff  of  the  Spanish  traveller's  life,  who,  having  added  raw 
garlic,  not  salt,  to  it,  then  journeys  on  with  security,  con  pan  y 
ajo  crudo  se  anda  seguro.  Again,  a  loaf  never  weighs  one  down, 
nor  is  ever  in  the  way  ;  as  JEsop,  the  prototype  of  Sancho,  well 
knew.  La  hogaza  no  embaraza. 

Having  secured  his  bread,  the  cook  in  preparing  supper  should 
make  enough  for  the  next  day's  lunch,  las  once,  the  eleven  o'clock 
meal,  as  the  Spaniards  translate  meridie,  twelve  or  mid-day, 
whence  the  correct  word  for  luncheon  is  derived,  merienda  mcrcn- 
dar.  Wherever  good  dishes  are  cut  up  there  are  good  leavings, 
"  donde  buenas  ollas  quebran,  buenos  cascos  quedan  ;"  and  nothing 
can  be  more  Cervantic  than  the  occasional  al  fresco  halt,  when  no 
better  place  of  accommodation  is  to  be  met  with.  As  the  sun 
gets  high,  and  man  and  beast  hungry  and  weary,  wherever 
a  tempting  shady  spot  with  running  water  occurs,  the  party 
draws  aside  from  the  high  .road,  like  Don  Quixote  and  Sancho 
Panza  :  a  retired  and  concealed  place  is  chosen,  the  luggage  is 


118  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

removed  from  the  animals,  the  hampers  which  lard  the  lean  soil 
are  unpacked,  the  table-cloth  is  spread  on  the  grass,  the  botas  are 
laid  in  the  water  to  cool  their  contents ;  then  out  with  the  pro- 
vision,  cold  partridge  or  turkey,  sliced  ham  or  chorizo — simple 
cates,  but  which  are  eaten  with  an  appetite  and  relish  for  which 
aldermen  would  pay  hundreds.  They  are  followed,  should 
grapes  be  wanting,  with  a  soothing  cigar,  and  a  sweet  slumber 
on  earth's  freshest,  softest  lap.  In  such  wild  banquets,  Spain 
surpasses  the  Boulevards.  Alas !  that  such  hours  should  be 
bright  and  winged  as  sunbeams  !  Such  is  Peninsular  country 
fare.  The  oZ/a,  on  which  the  rider  may  restore  exhausted 
nature,  is  only  to  be  studied  in  large  towns  ;  and  dining,  of 
which  this  is  the  foundation  in  Spain,  is  such  a  great  resource  to 
travellers,  and  Spanish  cookery,  again,  is  scf  Oriental,  classical, 
and  singular,  let  alone  its  vital  importance,  that  the  subject  will 
properly  demand  a  chapter  to  itself. 


A  SPANISH  COOK.  119 


CHAPTER    XI. 

A  Spanish  Cook — Philosophy  of  Spanish  Cuisine — Sauce — Difficulty  of 
Commissariat — The  Provend — Spanish  Hares  and  Rabbits — The  Olla — 
Garbanzo — Spanish  Pigs — Bacon  and  Hams — Omelette — Salad  and 
Gazpacho. 

IT  would  exhaust  a  couple  of  Colonial  numbers  at  least  to  dis- 
cuss properly  the  merits  and  digest  Spanish  cookery.  All  that 
can  be  now  done  is  to  skim  the- subject,  which  is  indeed  fat  and 
unctuous.  Those  meats  and  drinks  will  be  briefly  noticed  which 
are  of  daily  occurrence,  and  those  dishes  described  which  we  have 
often  helped  to  make,  and  oftener  helped  to  eat,  in  the  most  lar- 
derless  ventas  and  hungriest  districts  of  the  Peninsula,  and  which 
provident  wayfarers  may  make  and  eat  again,  and,  as  we  pray, 
with  no  worse  appetite. 

To  be  a  good  cook,  which  few  Spaniards  are,  a  man  must  not 
only  understand  his  master's  taste,  but  be  able  to  make  something 
out  of  nothing  ;  just  as  a  clever  French  artiste  converts  an  old 
shoe  into  an  epigramme  d'agneau,  or  a  Parisian  milliner  dresses 
up  two  deal  boards  into  a  fine  live  Madame,  whose  only  fault  is 
the  appearance  of  too  much  embonpoint.  Genuine  and  legitimate 
Spanish  dishes  are  excellent  in  their  way,  for  no  man  nor  man- 
cook  ever  is  ridiculous  when  he  does  not  attempt  to  be  what  he  is 
not.  The  au  naturel  may  occasionally  be  somewhat  plain,  but 
seldom  makes  one  sick ;  at  all  events  it  would  be  as  hopeless  to 
make  a  Spaniard  understand  real  French  cookery  as  to  endeavor 
to  explain  to  a  depute  the  meaning  of  our  constitution  or  parlia- 
ment. The  ruin  of  Spanish  cooks  is  their  futile  attempts  to  imi- 
tate foreign  ones  :  just  as  their  silly  grandees  murder  the  glori- 
ous Castilian  tongue,  by  substituting  what  they  fancy  is  pure 
Parisian,  which  they  speak  comme  des  vaches  Espagnoles.  Dis 
moi  ce  que  tu  manges  et  je  te  dirai  ce  que  tu  es  is  "  un  mot  pro- 
fond"  of  the  great  equity  judge,  Brillat  Savarin,  who  also  dis- 


120  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

covered  that  "  Les  destinees  des  nations  dependent  de  la  manure 
dont  elles  se  nourrissent ;"  since  which  General  Foy  has  attribu- 
ted all  the  accidental  victories  of  the  British  to  rum  and  beef. 
And  this  great  fact  much  enhances  our  serious  respect  for  punch, 
and  our  true  love  for  the  ros-bif  of  old  England,  of  which,  by  the 
way,  very  little  will  be  got  in  the  Peninsular,  where  bulls  are  bred 
for  baiting,  and  oxen  for  the  plough,  not  the  spit. 

The  national  cookery  of  Spain  is  for  the  most  part  Oriental ; 
and  the  ruling  principle  of  its  preparation  is  stewing  ;  for,  from 
a  scarcity  of  fuel,  roasting  is  almost  unknown ;  their  notion  of 
which  is  putting  meat  into  a  pan,  setting  it  in  hot  ashes,  and  then 
covering  the  lid  with  burning  embers.  The  pot,  or  o/Za,  has 
accordingly  become  a  synonyme  for  the  dinner  of  Spaniards,  just 
as  beefsteaks  or  frogs  are  vulgarly  supposed  to  constitute  the 
whole  bill  of  fare  of  two  other  mighty  nations.  "'Wherever  meats 
are  bad  and  thin,  the  sauce  is  very  important ;  it  is  based  in 
Spain  on  oil,  garlic,  saffron,  and  red  peppers.  In  hot  countries, 
where  beasts  are  lean,  oil  supplies  the  place  of  fat,  as  garlic  does 
the  want  of  flavor,  while  a  stimulating  condiment  excites  or  cur- 
ries up  the  coats  of  a  languid  stomach.  It  has  been  said  of  our 
heretical  countrymen  that  we  have  but  one  form  of  sauce — melted 
butter — and  a  hundred  different  forms  of  religion,  whereas  in 
orthodox  Spain  there  is  but  one  of  each,  and,  as  with  religion,  so 
to  change  this  sauce  would  be  little  short  of  heresy.  As  to  color, 
it  carries  that  rich  burnt  umber,  raw  sienna  tint,  which  Murillo 
imitated  so  well  ;  and  no  wonder,  since  he  made  his  particular 
brown  from  baked  olla  bones,  whence  it  was  extracted,  as  is  done 
to  this  day  by  those  Spanish  painters  who  indulge  in  meat.  This 
brown  negro  de  hueso  color  is  the  livery  of  tawny  Spain,  where  all 
is  brown  from  the  Sierra  Morena  to  duskier  man.  Of  such  hue 
is  his  cloak,  his  terra-cotta  house,  his  wife,  his  ox,  his  ass,  and 
everything  that  is  his.  This  sauce  has  not  only  the  same  color, 
but  the  same  flavor  everywhere ;  hence  the  difficulty  of  making 
out  the  material  of  which  any  dish  is  composed.  Not  Mrs.  Glass 
herself  could  tell,  by  taste  at  least,  whether  the  ingredients  of  the 
cauldron  be  hare  or  cat,  cow  or  calf,  the  aforesaid  ox  or  ass.  It 
puzzles  even  the  acumen  of  a  Frenchman  ;  for  it  is  still  the  great 
boast  of  the  town  of  Olvera  that  they  served  up  some  donkeys  as 


SCARCITY   OF   PROVISIONS.  121 

rations  to  a  Buonapartist  detachment.  All  this  is  very  Oriental. 
Isaac  could  not  distinguish  tame  kid  from  wild  venison,  so  per- 
plexing was  the  disguise  of  the  savory  sauce ;  and  yet  his  sense? 
of  smell  and  touch  were  keen,  and  his  suspicions  of  unfair  cooking 
were  awakened.  A  prudent  diner,  therefore,  except  when  forcer 
to  become  his  own  cook,  will  never  look  too  closely  into  the  things 
of  the  kitchen  if  lie  wishes  to  live  a  quiet  life  ;  for  quien  las  cosci' 
muclio  apura,  no  vive  vida  segura. 

All  who  ride  or  run  through  the  Peninsula,  will  read  thirst  in 
the  arid  plains,  and  hunger  in  the  soil-denuded  hills,  where  those 
who  ask  for  bread  will  receive  stones.  The  knife  and  fork  ques- 
tion has  troubled  every  warrior  in  Spain,  from  Henri  IV.  down 
to  Wellington  ;  "  subsistence  is  the  great  difficulty  always  found" 
is  the  text  of  a  third  of  the  Duke's  wonderful  despatches.  This 
scarcity  of  food  is  implied  in  the  very  name  of  Spain,  2navia, 
which  means  poverty  and  destitution,  as  well  as  in  the  term 
JBisonos,  wanters,  which  long  has  been  a  synonyme  for  Spanish 
soldiers,  who  are  always,  as  the  Duke  described  them,  "  hors  de 
combat,"  "  always  wanting  in  every  thing  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment." Hunger  and  thirst  have  ever  been,  and  are,  the  best 
defenders  of  the  Peninsular  against  the  invader.  On  sierra  and 
steppe  these  gaunt  sentinels  keep  watch  and  ward,  and,  on  the 
scarecrow  principle,  protect  this  paradise,  as  they  do  the  infernal 
regions  of  Virgil : — 

"  Malesuada  fames  et  turpis  egestas 
Horribiles  visu.'7 

A  riding  tour  through  Spain  has  already  been  likened  to  serv- 
ing a  campaign ;  and  it  was  a  saying  of  the  Grand  Conde,  "  If 
you  want  to  know  what  want  is,  carry  on  a  war  in  Spain."  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  thousands  of  miles  which  we  have  ridden, 
never  have  we  yet  felt  that  dire  necessity,  which  has  been  kept 
at  a  respectable  distance  by  a  constant  unremitting  attention  to 
the  proverb,  A  man  forewarned  is  forearmed.  Hombre  prevenido 
nunca  fu  vencido,  there  is  nothing  like  precaution  and  provision. 
"  If  you  mean  to  dine.,"  writes  the  all-providing  Duke  to  Lord  Hill 
from  Moralej a,  "  you  had  better  bring  your  things,  as  I  shall  have 

PART  i.  ? 


122  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

nothing  with  me  ;" — the  ancient  Bursal  fashion  holds  good  on 
Spanish  roads  : — 

"  Regula  Bursalis  est  omni  tempore  talis, 
Prandia  fer  tecum,  si  vis  comedere  mecum.'7 

A  man  who  is  prepared,  is  never  beaten  or  starved  ;  therefore, 
as  the  valorous  Dalgetty  has  it,  a  prudent  man  will  always  vict- 
ual himself  in  Spain  with  vivers  for  three  days  at  least,  and  his 
cook,  like  Sancho  Panza,  should  have  nothing  else  in  his  head, 
but  thoughts  how  to  convey  the  most  eatables  into  his  ambulant 
larder. 

He  must  set  forth  from  every  tolerable-sized  town  with  an 
ample  supply  of  tea,  sugar,  coffee,  brandy,  good  oil,  wine,  salt, 
to  say  nothing  of  solids.  The  having  something  ready  gives  him 
leisure  to  forage  and  make  ulterior  preparations.  Those  who 
have  a  corps  de  reserve  to  fall  back  upon — say  a  cold  turkey  and 
a  ham — can  always  convert  any  spot  in  the  desert  into  an  oasis ; 
at  the  same  time  the  connection  between  body  and  soul  may  be  kept 
up  by  trusting  to  venta  luck,  of  which  more  anon  ;  it  offers,  how- 
ever, but  a  miserable  existence  to  persons  of  judgment.  And 
even  when  this  precaution  of  provision  be  not  required,  there 
are  never  wanting  in  Spain  the  poor  and  hungry,  to  whom  the 
taste  of  meat  is  almost  unknown,  and  to  whom  these  crumbs 
that  fall  from  the  rich  man's  table  are  indeed  a  feast ;  the 
relish  and  gratitude  with  which  these  fragments  are  devoured  do 
as  much  good  to  the  heart  of  the  donor  as  to  the  stomach  of  the 
donees,  for  the  best  medicines  of  the  poor  are  to  be  found  in 
the  cellars,  kitchens,  and  hampers  of  the  rich.  All  servants 
should  be  careful  of  their  traps  and  stores,  which  are  liable 
to  be  pilfered  and  plundered  in  ventas,  where  the  elite  of 
society  is  not  always  assembled  •  the  luggage  should  be  well 
corded,  for  the  devil  is  always  a  gleaming,  ata  al  saco,  ya  espiga 
el  diablo. 

Formerly  all  travellers  of  rank  carried  a  silver  olla  with  a  key, 
the  guardacena,  the  save  supper.  This  ingenious  contrivance  has 
furnished  matter  for  many  a  pleasantry  in  picaresque  tales  and 
farces.  Madame  Daunoy  gives  us  the  history  of  what  befel  the 
good  Archbishop  of  Burgos  and  his  orthodox  olla. 


HARES  AND   RABBITS.  123 

There  is  nothing  in  life  like  making  a  good  start ;  thus  the 
party  arrives  safely  at  the  first  resting-place.  The  cook  must 
never  appear  to  have  anything  when  he  arrives  at  an  inn ;  he 
must  get  from  others  all  he  can,  and  much  is  to  be  had  for  asking 
and  crying,  as  even  a  Spanish  Infante  knows — the  child  that 
does  not  cry  is  not  suckled,'  quien  no  Mora,  no  mama  ;  the  artiste 
must  never  fall  back  on  his  own  reservoirs  except  in  cases  of 
absolute  need ;  during  the  day  he  must  open  his  eyes  and  ears 
and  must  pick  up  everything  eatable,  and  where  he  can  and 
when  he  can.  By  keeping  a  sharp  look-out  and  going  quietly  to 
work  the  cook  may  catch  the  hen  and  her  chickens  too.  All  is 
fish  that  comes  into  the  net,  and,  like  Buonaparte  and  his  mar- 
shals, nothing  should  be  too  great  for  his  ambition,  nothing  too 
small  for  his  rapacity  .^  Of  course  he  will  pay  for  his  collections, 
which  the  aforesaid  gentry  did  not :  thus  fruit,  onions,  salads, 
which,  as  they  must  be  bought  somewhere,  had  better  be  secured 
whenever  they  turn  up.  The  peasants,  who  are  sad  poachers, 
will  constantly  hail  travellers  from  the  fields  with  offers  of  par- 
tridges, rabbits,  melons,  hares,  which  always  jump  up  in  this  pays 
de  1'imprevu  when  you  least  expect  it:  Salta  la  liebre  cuando 
menos  uno  piensa. 

Notwithstanding  Don  Quixote  thought  that  it  augured  bad 
luck  to  meet  with  a  hare  on  entering  a  village,  let  not  a  bold  trav- 
eller be  scared,  but  forthwith  stew  the  omen  ;  a  hare,  as  in  the 
time  of  Martial,  is  considered  by  Spaniards  to  be  the  glory  of 
edible  quadrupeds,  and  to  this  day  no  old  stager  ever  takes  a  rab- 
bit when  he  can  get  a  hare,  dperro  viejo  echale  liebre  y  no  conejo. 
In  default  however  of  catching  one,  rabbits  may  always  be  bag- 
ged. Spain  abounds  with  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  ancient 
naturalists  thought  the  animal  indigenous,  and  went  so  far  as  to 
derive  the  name  Spain  from  Sephan,  the  rabbit,  which  the  Phoe- 
nicians found  here  for  the  first  time.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  long- 
eared  timid  creature  appears  on  the  early  Iberian  coins,  as  it 
will  long  do  on  her  wide  wastes  and  tables.  By  the  bye,  a  ready- 
stewed  rabbit  or  hare  is  to  be  eschewed  as  suspicious  in  a  venta : 
at  the  same  time,  if  the  consumer  does  not  find  out  that  it  is  a 
cat,  there  is  no  great  harm  done — ignorance  is  bliss  ;  let  him  not 
know  it,  he  is  not  robbed  at  all.  It  is  a  pity  to  dispel  his  gas- 


124  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


tronomic  delusion,  as  it  is  the  knowledge  of  the  cheat  that  kills, 
and  not  the  cat.  Pol  !  me  occidistis,  amici.  The  cook  therefore, 
should  ascertain  beforehand  what  are  the  bona  fide  ingredients  of 
every  dish  that  he  sets  before  his  lord. 

In  going  into  the  kitchens  of  the  Peninsula,  precedence  must 
on  every  account  be  given  to  the  olla  :  this  word  means  at  once 
a  species  of  prepared  food,  and  the  earthenware  utensil  in  which 
it  is  dressed,  just  as  our  term  dish  is  applicable  to  the  platter 
and  to  what  is  served  on  it.  Into  this  olla  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  the  whole  culinary  genius  of  Spain  is  condensed,  as  the 
mighty  Jinn  was  into  a  gallipot,  according  to  the  Arabian  Night 
tales.  The  lively  and  gastronomic  French,  who  are  decidedly 
the  leaders  of  European  civilization  in  the  kitchen,  deride  the 
barbarous  practices  of  the  Gotho-Iberians,  as  being  darker  than 
Erebus  and  more  ascetic  than  aesthetic  ;  to  credit  their  authors, 
a  Peninsular  breakfast  consists  of  a  teaspoonful  of  chocolate,  a 
dinner,  of  a  knob  of  garlic  soaked  in  water,  and  a  supper,  of  a 
paper  cigarette  ;  and  according  to  their  parfait  cuisinier^  the  olla 
is  made  of  two  cigars  boiled  in  three  gallons  of  water — but  this 
is  a  calumny,  a  mere  invention  devised  by  the  enemy. 

The  olla  is  only  well  made  in  Andalucia,  and  there  alone  in 
careful,  well-appointed  houses  ;  it  is  called  a  puchero  in  the  rest 
of  Spain,  where  it  is  but  a  poor  affair,  made  of  dry  beef,  or  rather 
cow,  boiled  with  garbanzos  or  chick  peas,  and  a  few  sausages. 
These  garbanzos  are  the  vegetable,  the  potato  of  the  land  ;  and 
their  use  argues  a  low  state  of  horticultural  knowledge.  The 
taste  for  them  was  introduced  by  the  Carthaginians — the  puls  pu 
nica,  which  (like  the  Jides  punica,  an  especial  ingredient  in  aL 
Spanish  governments  and  finance)  afforded  such  merriment  to 
Plautus,  that  he  introduced  the  chick-pea  eating  Poenus,  pultiph- 
agonides,  speaking  Punic,  just  as  Shakspere  did  the  toasted-cheese 
eating  Welshman  talking  Welsh.  These  garbanzos  require  much 
soaking,  being  otherwise  hard  as  bullets ;  indeed,  a  lively  French- 
man, after  what  he  calls  an  apology  for  a  dinner,  compared  them, 
in  his  empty  stomach,  as  he  was  jumbled  away  in  the  dilly,  to 
peas  rattling  in  a  child's  drum. 

The  veritable  olla — the  ancient  time-honored  olla  podrida,  or 
pot  pourri — the  epithet  is  now  obsolete — is  difficult  to  be  made  : 


THE   OLLA  PODRIDA.  125 

a  tolerable  one  is  never  to  be  eaten  out  of  Spain,  since  it  re- 
quires many  Spanish  things  to  concoct  it,  and  much  care ;  the 
cook  must  throw  his  whole  soul  into  the  pan,  or  rather  pot ;  it 
may  be-  made  in  one,  but  two  are  better.  They  must  be  of 
earthenware  ;  for,  like  the  French  pot  au  feu,  the  dish  is  good 
for  nothing  when  made  in  an  iron  or  copper  vessel  ;  take  there- 
fore two,  and  put  them  on  their  separate  stoves  with  water. 
Place  into  No.  1,  Garbanzos,  which  have  been  placed  to  soak 
over-night.  Add  a  good  piece  of  beef,  a  cnicken,  a  large  piece 
of  bacon  ;  let  it  boil  once  and  quickly  ;  then  let  it  simmer ;  it 
requires  four  or  five  hours  to  be  well  done.  Meanwhile  place 
into  No.  2,  with  water,  whatever  vegetables  are  to  be  had  :  let- 
tuces, cabbage,  a  slice  of  gourd,  of  beef,  carrots,  beans,  celery, 
endive,  onions  and  garlic,  long  peppers.  These  must  be  previ- 
ously well  washed  and  cut,  as  if  they  were  destined  to  make  a 
salad  :  then  add  red  sausages,  or  "  chorizos  ;"  half  a  salted  pig's 
face,  which  should  have  been  soaked  over-night.  When  all  is 
sufficiently  boiled,  strain  off  the  water,  and  throw  it  away.  Re- 
member constantly  to  skim  the  scum  of  both  saucepans.  When 
all  this  is  sufficiently  dressed,  take  a  large  dish,  lay  in  the  bottom 
the  vegetables,  the  beef  in  the  centre,  flanked  by  the  bacon, 
chicken,  and  pig's  face.  The  sausages  should  be  arranged  around, 
en  couronne  ;  pour  over  some  of  the  soup  of  No.  1,  and  serve 
hot,  as  Horace  did  :  "  Uncta  satis — ponuntur  oluscula  lardo." 
No  violets  come  up  to  the  perfume  which  a  coming  olla  casts  be- 
fore it ;  the  mouth-watering  bystanders  sigh,  as  they  see  and 
smell  the  rich  freight  steaming  away  from  them. 

This  is  the  olla  en  grande,  such  as  Don  Quixote  says  was  eaten 
only  by  canons  and  presidents  of  colleges  ;  like  turtle-soup,  it  is 
so  rich  and  satisfactory  that  it  is  a  dinner  of  itself.  A  worthy 
dignitary  of  Seville,  in  the  good  old  times,  before  reform  and  ap- 
propriation had  put  out  the  churches'  kitchen  fire,  and  whose 
daily  pot-luck  was  transcendental,  told  us,  as  a  wrinkle,  that  he 
on  feast-days  used  turkeys  instead  of  chickens,  and  added  two 
sharp  Ronda  apples,  and  three  sweet  potatoes  of  Malaga.  His 
advice  is  worth  attention  :  he  was  a  good  Roman  Catholic  canon, 
who  believed  everything,  absolved  everything,  drank  everything, 
ate  everything,  and  digested  everything.  In  fact,  as  a  general 


126  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

rule,  anything  that  is  good  in  itself  is  good  for  an  olla,  provided, 
as  old  Spanish  books  always  conclude,  that  it  contains  nothing 
contrary  to  the  holy  mother  church,  to  orthodoxy,  and  to  good 
manners — "  que  no  contiene  cosa  que  se  oponga  a  nuestra  madre 
Iglesia,  y  santa  fe  catolica,  y  buenas  costurnbres."  Such  an  olla 
as  this  is  not  to  be  got  on  the  road,  but  may  be  made  to  restore 
exhausted  nature  when  halting  in  the  cities.  Of  course,  every 
olla  must  everywhere  be  made  according  to  what  can  be  got.  In 
private  families  the  contents  of  No.  1,  the  soup,  is  served  up  with 
bread  in  a  tureen,  and  the  frugal  table  decked  with  the  separate 
contents  of  the  olla  in  separate  platters  ;  the  remains  coldly  serve, 
or  are  warmed  up,  for  supper. 

The  vegetables  and  bacon  are  absolute  necessaries ;  without 
the  former  an  olla  has  neither  grace  nor  sustenance  ;  la  olla  sin 
verdura,  ni  tiene  gracia  ni  hartura,  while  the  latter  is  as  essential 
in  this  stew  as  a  text  from  Saint  Augustine  is  in  a  sermon : 

No  hay  olla  sin  tocino 
Ni  sermon  sin  Agustino. 

Bacon  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Peninsula  is 
more  honored  than  this,  or  than  any  one  or  all  the  fathers  of  the 
church  of  &ome ;  the  hunger  after  the  flesh  of  the  pig  is  equalled 
only  by  the  thirst  for  the  contents  of  what  is  put  afterwards  into 
his  skin  ;  and  with  reason,  for  the  pork  of  Spain  has  always 
been,  and  is,  unequalled  in  flavor  ;  the  bacon  is  fat  and  flavored, 
the  sausages  delicious,  and  the  hams  transcendantly  superlative, 
to  use  the  very  expression  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  a  man  of  great 
taste,  learning,  and  judgment.  Of  all  the  things  of  Spain,  no 
one  need  feeling  ashamed  to  plead  guilty  to  a  predilection  and 
preference  to  the  pig.  A  few  particulars  may  be,  therefore  par- 
doned. 

In  Spain  pigs  are  more  numerous  even  than  asses,  since  they 
pervade  the  provinces.  As  those  of  Estremadura,  the  Hampshire 
of  the  Peninsula,  aie  the  most  esteemed,  they  alone  will  be  now 
noticed.  That  province,  although  so  little  visited  by  Spaniards 
or  strangers,  is  full  of  interest  to  the  antiquarian  and  naturalist ; 
and  many  are  the  rides  at  different  periods  which  we  have  made 
through  its  tangled  ilex  groves,  and  over  its  depopulated  and 


PIGS   OF   ESTREMADLRA.  127 

aromatic  wastes.  A  granary  under  Roman  and  Moor,  its  very 
existence  seems  to  be  all  but  forgotten  by  the  Madrid  govern- 
ment, who  have  abandoned  it  to  feres  natures,,  to  wandering  sheep, 
locusts,  and  swine.  The  entomology  of  Estremadura  is  endless, 
and  perfectly  uninvestigated — de  minimis  non  curat  Hispanus  ; 
but  the  heavens  and  earth  teem  with  the  minute  creation  ;  there 
nature  is  most  busy  and  prolific,  where  man  is  most  idle  and  un- 
productive ;  and  in  these  lonely  wastes,  where  no  human  voice 
disturbs  the  silence,  the  balmy  air  resounds  with  the  buzzing  hum 
of  multitudinous  insects,  which  career  about  on  their  business  of 
love  or  food  without  settlements  or 'kitchens,  rejoicing  in  the  fine 
weather  which  is  the  joy  of  their  tiny  souls,  and  short-lived  pleas- 
ant existence.  Sheep,  pigs,  locusts,  and  doves  are  the  only  liv- 
ing things  which  the  traveller  will  see  for  hours  and  hours.  Now 
and  then  a  man  occurs,  just  to  prove  how  rare  his  species  is 
here. 

Vast  districts  of  this  unreclaimed  province  are  covered  with 
woods  of  oak,  beech,  and  chesnut ;  but  these  park-like  scenes 
have  no  charms  for  native  eyes ;  blind  to  the  picturesque,  they 
only  are  thinking  of  the  number  of  pigs  which  can  be  fattened 
on  the  mast  and  acorns,  which  are  sweeter  and  larger  than  those 
of  our  oaks.  The  acorns  are  still  called  bettota,  the  Arabic  lollot 
— Mot  being  the  Scriptural  term  for  the  tree  and  the  gland, 
which,  with  water,  formed  the  original  diet  of  the  aboriginal 
Iberian,  as  well  as  of  his  pig;  when  dry,  the  acorns  were  ground, 
say  the  classical  authors,  into  bread,  and,  when  fresh,  they  were 
served  up  as  the  second  course.  And  in  our  time  ladies  of  high 
rank  at  Madrid  constantly  ate  them  at  the  opera  and  elsewhere ; 
they  were  the  presents  sent  by  Sancho  Panza's  wife  to  the  Duch- 
ess, and  formed  the  text  on  which  Don  Quixote  preached  so  elo- 
quently to  the  goatherds,  on  the  joys  and  innocence  of  the  golden 
age  and  pastoral  happiness,  in  which  they  constituted  the  founda- 
tion of  the  kitchen. 

The  pigs  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  are  left  to  support 
nature  as  they  can,  and  in  gauntness  resemble  those  greyhound- 
looking  animals  which  pass  for  porkers  in  France.  When .  the 
acorns  are  ripe  and  fall  from  the  trees,  the  greedy  animals  are 
turned  out  in  legions  from  the  villages,  which  more  correctly  may 


128  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

be  termed  coalitions  of  pigsties.  They  return  from  the  woods  at 
night,  of  their  own  accord,,  and  without  a  swine's  general.  On 
entering  the  hamlet,  all  set  off  at  a  full  gallop,  like  a  legion  pos- 
sessed with  devils,  in  a  handicap  for  home,  into  which  each  single 
pig  turns,  never  making  a  mistake.  We  have  more  than  once 
been  caught  in  one  of  these  pig-deluges,  arid  nearly  carried  away 
horse  and  all,  as  befell  Don  Quixote,  when  really  swept  away  by 
the  "  far-spread  and  grunting  drove.57  In  his  own  home  each 
truant  is  welcomed  like  a  prodigal  son  or  a  domestic  father. 
These  pigs  are  the  pets  of  the  peasants  ;  they  are  brought  up 
with  their  children,  and  partake,  as  in  Ireland,  in  the  domestic 
discomforts  of  their  cabins;  they  are  universally  respected,  and 
justly,  for  it  is  this  animal  who  pays  the  "  rint ;"  in  fact,  are  the 
citizens,  as  at  Sorrento,  and  Estremenian  man  is  quite  a  secon- 
dary formation,  and  created  to  tend  herds  of  these  swine,  who 
lead  the  happy  life  of  former  Toledan  dignitaries,  with  the  addi- 
tional advantage  of  becoming  more  valuable  when  dead. 

It  is  astonishing  how  rapidly  they  thrive  on  their  sweet  food  ; 
indeed  it  is  the  whole  duty  of  a  good  pig — animal  propter  con- 
vivia  natum — to  get  as  fat  and  as  soon  as  he  can,  and  then  die 
for  the  good  of  his  country.  It  may  be  observed  for  the  inform- 
ation of  our  farmers,  that  those  pigs  which  are  dedicated  to  St. 
Anthony,  on  whom  a  sow  is  in  constant  attendance,  as  a  dove 
was  on  Venus,  gets  the  soonest  fat ;  therefore  in  Spain  young 
porkers  are  sprinkled  with  holy  water  on  his  day,  but  those  of 
other  saints  are  less  propitious,  for  the  killing  takes  place  about 
the  10th  and  llth  of  November,  or,  as  Spaniards  date  it  por  el 
St.  Andres,  on  the  day  of  St.  Andrews,  or  on  that  of  St.  Martin ; 
hence  the  proverb  "  every  man  and  pig  has  his  St.  Martin  or  his 
fatal  hour,  a  cada  puerco  su  San  Martin" 

The  death  of  a  fat  pig  is  as  great  an  event  in  Spanish  families, 
who  generally  fatten  up  one,  as  the  birth  of  a  baby ;  nor  can  the 
fact  be  kept  secret,  so  audible  is  his  announcement.  It  is  con- 
sidered a  delicate  attention  on  the  part  of  the  proprietor  to  cele- 
brate the  auspicious  event  by  sending  a  portion  of  the  chitterlings 
to  intimate  friends.  The  Spaniard's  proudest  boast  is  that  his 
blood  is  pure,  that  he  is  not  descended  from  pork-eschewing  Jew 
or  Moor — a  fact  wrhich  the  pig  genus,  could  it  reason,  would  deep. 


PORK   OF   MONTANCHES.  139 


ly  deplore.  The  Spaniard  doubtless  has  been  so  great  a  consumer 
of  pig,  from  grounds  religious,  as  well  as  gastronomic.  The  eat- 
ing or  not  eating  the  flesh  of  an  animal  deemed  unclean  by  the 
impure  infidel,  became  a  test  of  orthodoxy,  and  at  once  of  correct 
faith  as  well  as  of  good  taste ;  and  good  bacon,  as  has  been  just 
observed,  is  wedded  to  sound  doctrine  and  St.  Augustine.  The 
Spanish  name  Tocino  is  derived  from  the  Arabic  Tachim,  which 
signifies  fat. 

The  Spaniards  however,  although  tremendous  consumers  of 
the  pig,  whether  in  the  salted  form  or  in  the  skin,  have  to  the 
full  the  Oriental  abhorrence  to  the  unclean  animal  in  the  abstract. 
Muy  puerco  is  their  last  expression  for  all  that  is  most  dirty,  nas- 
ty, or  disgusting.  Muy  cochina  never  is -forgiven,  if  applied  to 
woman,  as  it  is  equivalent  to  the  Italian  Vacca,  and  to  the  canine 
feminine  compliment  bandied  among  our  fair  sex  at  Billingsgate ; 
nor  does  the  epithet  imply  moral  purity  or  chastity  ;  indeed  in 
Castilian  euphuism  the  unclean  animal  was  never  to  be  named 
except  in  a  periphrasis,  or  with  an  apology,  which  is  a  singular 
remnant  of  the  Moorish  influence  on  Spanish  manners.  Haluf 
or  swine  is  still  the  Moslem's  most  obnoxious  term  for  the  Chris- 
tians,  and  is  applied  to  this  day  by  the  ungrateful  Algerines  to 
their  French  bakers  and  benefactors,  nay  even  to  the  "illustre 
Bugeaud." 

The  capital  of  the  Estremenian  pig-districts  is  Montanches — 
inons  anguis — and  doubtless  the  hilly  spot  where  the  Duke  of 
Arcos  fed  and  cured  "  ces  petits  jambons  vermeils,"  which  the 
Due  de  St.  Simon  ate  and  admired  so  much  ;  "ces  jambons  ont 
un  parfum  si  admirable,  un  gout  si  releve  et  si  vivifiant,  qu'on  en 
est  surpris :  il  est  impossible  de  rien  manger  si  exquis."  His 
Grace  of  Arcos  used  to  shut  up  the  pigs  in  places  abounding  in 
vipers,  on  which  they  fattened.  Neither  the  pigs,  dukes,  nor 
their  toad-eaters  seemed  to  have  been  poisoned  by  these  exquisite 
vipers.  According  to  Jonas  Harrington,  the  finest  Irish  pigs  were 
those  that  fed  on  dead  rebels  :  one  Papist  Porker,  the  Enniscorthy 
boar,  was  sent  as  a  show,  for  having  eaten  a  Protestant  parson  : 
he  was  put  to  de-ath  and  dishonored  by  not  being  made  bacon  of. 

Naturalists  have  remarked  that  the  rattlesnakes  in  America  re- 
tire  before  their  consuming  enemy,  the  pig,  who  is  thus  the  gas- 

7* 


130  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

tador  or  pioneer  of  the  new  world's  civilization,  just  as  Pizarro, 
who  was  suckled  by  a  sow,  and  tended  swine  in  his  youth,  was 
its  conqueror.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Montanches  is  illustrious  in 
pork,  in  which  the  burgesses  go  the  whole  hog,  whether  in  the 
rich  red  sausage,  the  chorizo,  or  in  the  savory  piquant  embucliados, 
which  are  akin  to  the  mortadelle  of  Bologna,  only  less  hard,  and 
usually  boiled  before  eating,  though  good  also  raw ;  they  consist, 
of  the  choice  bits  of  the  pig  seasoned  with  condiments,  with  which, 
as  if  by  retribution,  the  paunch  of  the  voracious  animal  is  filled ; 
the  ruling  passion  strong  in  death.  We  strongly  recommend 
Juan  Valiente,  who  recently  was  the  alcalde  of  the  town,  to  the 
lover  of  delicious  hams;  eachjamon  averages  about  12  Ib. ;  they 
are  sold  at  the  rate  of  7-J-  reales,  about  18^.,  for  the  libra  carni- 
cera,  which  weighs  32  of  our  ounces.  The  duties  in  England  are 
now  very  trifling  ;  we  have  for  many  years  had  an  annual  supply 
of  these  delicacies,  through  the  favor  of  a  kind  friend  at  the  Pu- 
erto. The  fat  of  these  jamones,  whence  our  word  ham  and  gam- 
mon, when  they  are  boiled,  looks  like  melted  topazes,  and  the  fla- 
vor defies  language,  although  we  have  dined  on  one  this  very  day, 
in  order  to  secure  accuracy  and  undeniable  prose,  like  Lope  de 
Vega,  who,  according  to  his  biographer,  Dr.  Montalvan,  never 
could  write  poetry  unless  inspired  by  a  rasher ;  "  Toda  es  cosa 
vil,"  said  he,  "  a  donde  falta  un  pernil"  (in  which  word  we  re- 
cognize the  precise  perna  whereby  Horace  was  restored)  : — 

Therefore  all  writing  is  a  sham, 
Where  there  is  wanting  Spanish  ham. 

Those  of  Gallicia  and  Catalonia  are  also  celebrated,  but  are 
not  to  be  compared  for  a  moment  with  those  of  Montanches,  which 
are  fit  to  set  before  an  emperor.  Their  only  rivals  are  th( 
sweet  hams  of  the  Alpujarras,  which  are  made  at  Trevetez,  a  pig 
hamlet  situated  under  the  snowy  mountains  on  the  opposite  side 
of  Granada,  to  which  also  we  have  made  a  pilgrimage.  They 
are  called  dulces,  or  sweet,  because  scarcely  any  salt  is  used  in 
the  curing ;  the  ham  is  placed  in  a  weak  pickle  for  eight  days, 
and  is  then  hung  up  in  the  snow  ;  it  can  only  be  done  at  this 
place,  where  the  exact  temperature  necessary  is  certain.  Those 
of  our  readers  who  are  curious  in  Spanish  eatables  will  find  ex- 


THE   GUISADO.  131 


cellent  garbanzos,  chorizos,  red  pepper,  chocolate,  and  Valencian 
sweetmeats,  &c.,  at  Figul's,  a  most  worthy  Catalan,  whose  shop 
is  at  No.  10,  Woburn  Buildings,  St.  Pancras,  London;  the  local- 
ity is  scarcely  less  visited  than  Montanches,  but  the  penny-post 
penetrates  into  this  terra  incognita. 

So  much  space  has  been  filled  with  these  meritorious  bacons 
and  hams,  that  we  must  be  brief  with  our  remaining  bill  of  fare. 
For  a  pisto  or  meat  omelette  take  eggs,  which  are  to  be  got  almost 
everywhere ;  see  that  they  are  fresh,  by  being  pellucid ;  beat 
these  huevos  trasparentes  well  up ;  chop  up  onions  and  whatever 
savory  herbs  you  have  with  you  ;  add  small  slices  of  any  meat 
out  of  your  hamper,  cold  turkey,  ham,  &c. ;  beat  it  all  up  to- 
gether and  fry  it  quickly.  Most  Spaniards  have  a  peculiar  knack 
in  making  these  tortillas,  revueltas  de  huevos,  which,  to  fastidious 
stomachs,  are,  as  in  most  parts  of  the  Continent,  a  sure  resource 
to  fall  back  upon. 

The  Guisado,  or  stew,  like  the  olla,  can  only  be  really  done 
in  a  Spanish  pipkin,  and  of  those  which  we  import,  the  Anda- 
lucian  ones  draw  flavor  out  the  best.  This  dish  is  always  well 
done  by  every  cook  in  every  venta,  barring  that  they  are  apt  to 
put  in  bad  oil,  and  too  much  garlic,  pepper,  and  saffron.  Super- 
intend it  therefore,  yourself,  and  take  hare,  partridge,  rabbit, 
chicken,  or  whatever  you  may  have  foraged  on  the  road  ;  it  is 
capital  also  with  pheasant,  as  we  proved  only  yesterday ;  cut  it 
up,  save  the  blood,  the  liver,  and  the  giblets ;  do  not  wash  the 
pieces,  but  dry  them  in  a  cloth ;  fry  them  with  onions  in  a  tea- 
cup of  oil  till  browned  ;  take  an  olla,  put  in  these  bits  with  the  oil, 
equal  portions  of  wine  and  water,  but  stock  is  better  than  water  : 
claret  answers  well,  Valdepenas  better ;  add  a  bit  of  bacon, 
onions,  garlic,  salt,  pepper,  pimientos,  a  bunch  of  thyme  or  herbs  ^ 
let  it  simmer,  carefully  skimming  it ;  half  an  hour  before  serving 
add  the  giblets ;  when  done,  which  can  be  tested  by  feeling  with 
a  fork,  serve  hot.  The  stew  should  be  constantly  stirred  with  a 
wooden  r,poon,  and  grease,  the  ruin  of  all  cookery,  carefully 
skimmed  off  as  it  rises  to  the  surface.  When  made  with  proper 
care  and  with  a  good  salad,  it  forms  a  supper  for  a  cardinal,  or 
for  Santiago  himself. 

Another  excellent  but  very  difficult  dish  is  the  polio  con  arroz, 


132  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

or  the  chicken  and  rice.  It  is  eaten  in  perfection  in  Valencia, 
and  therefore  is  often  called  Polio  Valenciano.  Cut  a  good  fowl 
into  pieces,  wipe  it  clean,  but  do  not  put  it  into  water ;  take  a 
saucepan,  put  in  a  wine-glass  of  fine  oil,  heat  the  oil  well,  put  in 
a  bit  of  bread  ;  let  it  fry,  stirring  it  about  with  a  wooden  spoon  ; 
when  the  bread  is  browned  take  it  out  and  throw  it  away :  put  in 
two  cloves  of  garlic,  taking  care  that  it  does  not  burn,  as,  if  it 
does,  it  will  turn  bitter;  stir  the  garlic  till  it  is  fried  ;  put  in  the 
chicken,  keep  stirring  it  about  while  it  fries,  then  put  in  a  little 
salt  and  stir  again ;  whenever  a  sound  of  cracking  is  heard,  stir 
it  again ;  when  the  chicken  is  well  browned  or  gilded,  dorado, 
which  will  take  from  five  to  ten  minutes,  stirring  constantly,  put 
in  chopped  onions,  three  or  four  chopped  red  or  green  chilis,  and 
stir  about ;  if  once  the  contents  catch  the  pan,  the  fish  is  spoiled  ; 
then  add  tomatas,  divided  into  quarters,  and  parsley ;  take  two 
teacupsful  of  rice,  mix  all  well  up  together  ;  add  hot  stock  enough 
to  cover  the  whole  over ;  let  it  boil  once,  and  then  set  it  aside  to 
simmer  until  the  rice  becomes  tender  and  done.  The  great  art 
consists  in  having  the  rice  turned  out  granulated  and  separate, 
not  in  a  pudding  state,  which  is  sure  to  be  the  case  if  a  cover  be 
ever  put  over  the  dish,  which  condenses  the  steam. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  these  dishes,  if  so  curious  in  the  cook- 
ing, are  not  likely  to  be  well  done  in  the  rude  kitchens  of  a  venta; 
but  practice  makes  perfect,  and  the  whole  mind  and  intellect  of 
the  artist  is  concentrated  on  one  object,  and  not  frittered  away  by 
a  multiplicity  of  dishes,  the  rock  on  which  many  cooks  founder, 
where  more  dinners  are  sacrificed  to  the  eye  and  ostentation.  One 
dish  and  one  thing  at  a  time  is  the  golden  rule  of  Bacon  ;  many 
are  the  anxious  moments  that  we  have  spent  over  the  rim  of  a 
Spanish  pipkin,  watching,  life  set  on  the  cast,  the  wizen  she- 
mummy,  whose  mind,  body,  and  spoon  were  absorbed  in  a  single 
mess:  Well,  my  mother,  que  tal?  what  sort  of  a  stew  is  it? 
Let  me  smell  and  taste  the  salsa.  Good,  good  ;  it  promises 
much.  Vamos  Senora — go  on,  my  lady,  thy  spoon  once  more — 
how,  indeed,  can  oil,  wine,  and  nutritive  juices  amalgamate  with- 
out frequent  stirring  ?  Well,  very  well  it  is.  Now  again, 
daughter  of  my  soul,  thy  fork.  Asi,  asi ;  thus,  thus.  Per 
BaccOj  by  Bacchus,  tender  it  is — may  heaven  repay  thee  !  In. 


STARRED   EGGS.  133 


deed,  from  this  tenderness  of  the  meat  arises  ease  of  digestion  ; 
here,  pot  and  fire  do  half  the  work  of  the  poor  stomach,  which 
too  often  in  inns  elsewhere  is  overtaxed,  like  its  owner,  and  con- 
demned to  hard  labor  and  a  brickbat  beefsteak. 

Poached  eggs  are  at  all  events  within  the  grasp  of  the  meanest 
culinary  capacity.  They  are  called  Huevos  estrellados,  starred 
eggs.  When  fat  bacon  is  wedded  to  them,  the  dish  is  called 
Huevos  con  magras  ;  not  that  magras  here  means  thin  as  to  con- 
dition, but  rather  as  to  slicing ;  and  these  slices  again,  are  posi- 
tively thick  ones  when  compared  to  those  triumphs  of  close 
shaving  which  are  carved  at  Vauxhall.  To  make  this  dish,  with 
or  without  the  bacon,  take  eggs ;  the  contents  of  the  shell  are  to 
be  emptied  into  a  pan  filled  with  hot  oil  or  lard,  manteca  de  puerco, 
pigs's  butter ;  it  must  be  remembered,  although  Strabo  mentions 
as  a  singular  fact  that  the  Iberians  made  use  of  butter  instead  of 
oil,  that  now  it  is  just  the  reverse ;  a  century  ago  butter  was 
only  sold  by  the  apothecaries,  as  a  sort  of  ointment,  and  it  used 
to  be  iniquitous.  Spaniards  generally  used  either  Irish  or  Flem- 
ish salted  butter,  and  from  long  habit  thought  fresh  butter  quite 
insipid ;  indeed,  they  have  no  objection  to  its  being  a  trifle  or  so 
rancid,  just  as  some  aldermen  like  high  venison.  In  the  present 
age  of  progress  the  Queen  Christina  has  a  fancy  dairy  at  Mad- 
rid, where  she  makes  a  few  pounds  of  fresh  butter,  of  which  a 
small  portion  is  or  was  sold,  at  five  shillings  the  pound,  to  foreign 
ambassadors  for  their  breakfast.  Recently  more  attention  has 
been  paid  to  the  dairy  in  the  Swiss-like  provinces  of  the  north- 
west. The  Spaniards,  like  the  heroes  in  the  Iliad,  seldom  boil 
their  food  (eggs  excepted,)  at  least  not  in  water ;  for  frying,  after 
all,  is  but  boiling  in  oil. 

Travellers  should  be  cautioned  against  the  captivating  name 
of  manteca  Valenciana.  This  Valencian  butter  is  composed  (for 
the  cow  has  nothing  to  do  with  it)  of  equal  portions  of  garlic  and 
hogs'  lard  pounded  together  in  a  mortar ;  it  is  then  spread  on 
bread,  just  as  we  do  arsenic  to  destroy  vermin.  It,  however, 
agrees  well  with  the  peasants,  as  does  the  soup  of  their  neighbors 
the  Catalans,  which  is  made  of  bread  and  garlic  in  equal  portions 
fried  in  oil  and  diluted  with  hot  water.  This  mess  is  called  sopa 
de  gatOj  probably  from  making  cats,  not  Catalans,  sick. 


134  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

One  thing,  however,  is  truly  delicious  in  Spain — the  salad,  to 
compound  which,  says  the  Spanish  proverb,  four  persons  are 
wanted  :  a  spendthrift  for  oil,  a  miser  for  vinegar,  a  counsellor 
for  salt,  and  a  madman  to  stir  it  all  up.  N.B.  Get  the  biggest 
bowl  you  can  in  order  that  this  latter  operation  may  be  thoroughly 
performed.  The  salad  is  the  glory  of  every  French  dinner,  and 
the  disgrace  of  most  in  England,  even  in  good  houses,  and  from 
two  simple  causes;  first,  from  the  putting  in  eggs,  mustard,  and 
other  heretical  ingredients,  and,  secondly,  from  making  it  long 
before  it  is  wanted  to  be  eaten,  whereby  the  green  materials, 
which  should  be  crisp  and  fresh,  become  sodden  and  leathery. 
Prepare,  therefore,  ycwir  salad  in  separate  vessels,  and  never  mix 
the  sauce  with  the  herbs  until  the  instant  that  you  are  read)7  to 
transfer  the  refreshing  result  to  your  plate.  Take  lettuce,  or 
whatever  salad  is  to  be  got ;  do  not  cut  it  with  a  steel  knife, 
which  turns  the  edges  of  the  wounds  black,  and  communicates  an 
evil  flavor ;  let  the  leaf  be  torn  from  the  stem,  which  throw 
away,  as  it  is  hard  and  bitter  ;  wash  the  mass  in  many  waters, 
and  rinse  it  in  napkins  till  dry  •  take  a  small  bowl,  put  in  equal 
quantities  of  vinegar  and  water,  a  teaspoonful  of  pepper  and  salt, 
and  four  times  as  much  oil  as  vinegar  and  water,  mix  the  same 
well  together ;  prepare  in  a  plate  whatever  fine  herbs  can  be  got, 
especially  tarragon  and  chervil,  which  must  be  chopped  small. 
Pour  the  sauce  over  the  salad,  powder  it  with  these  herbs,  and 
lose  no  time  in  eating.  For  making  a  much  worse  salad  than 
this,  a  foreign  artiste  in  London  used  some  years  ago  to  charge 
a  guinea. 

Any  remarks  on  Spanish  salads  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  account  of  gazpacho,  that  vegetable  soup,  or  floating  salad, 
which  during  the  summer  forms  the  food  of  the  bulk  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  torrid  portions  of  Spain.  This  dish  is  of  Arabic  origin, 
as  its  name,  "  soaked  bread,"  implies.  This  most  ancient  Orien- 
tal Roman  and  Moorish  refection  is  composed  of  onions,  garlic, 
cucumbers,  chilis,  all  chopped  up  very  small  and  mixed  with 
crumbs  of  bread,  and  then  put  into  a  bowl  of  oil,  vinegar,  and 
fresh  water.  Reapers  and  agricultural  laborers  could  never 
stand  the  sun's  fire  without  this  cooling  acetous  diet.  This  was 
the  o^vxqcnog  of  the  Greeks,  the  posca,  potable  food,  meat  and 


GAZPACHO.  135 


drink,  potus  et  esca,  which  formed  part  of  the  rations  of  the 
Roman  soldiers,  and  which  Adrian  (a  Spaniard)  delighted  to 
share  with  them,  and  into  which  Boaz  at  rneal-time  invited  Ruth 
to  dip  her  morsel.  Dr.  Buchanan  found  some  Syrian  Christians 
who  still  called  it  ail,  ail,  Hil  Hila,  for  which  our  Saviour  was 
supposed  to  have  called  on  the  Cross,  when  those  who  understood 
that  dialect  gave  it  him  from  the  vessel  which  was  full  of  it  for 
the  Guard.  In  Andalucia,  during  the  summer,  a  bowl  of  gaz- 
pacho  is  commonly  ready  in  every  house  of  an  evening,  and  is 
partaken  of  by  every  person  who  comes  in.  It  is  not  easily 
digested  by  strangers,  who  do  not  require  it  quite  so  much  as  the 
natives,  whose  souls  are  more  parched  and  dried  up,  and  who 
perspire  less.  The  components,  oil,  vinegar,  and  bread,  are  all 
that  is  given  out  to  the  lower  class  of  laborers  by  farmers  who 
profess  to  feed  them  ;  two  cow's  horns,  the  most  primitive  form 
of  bottle  and  cup,  are  constantly  seen  suspended  on  each  side  of 
their  carts,  and  contain  this  provision,  with  which  they  compound 
their  migas :  this  consists  of  crumbs  of  bread  fried  in  oil,  with 
pepper  and  garlic  ;  nor  can  a  stronger  proof  be  given  of  the  Qom- 
mon  poverty  of  their  fare  than  the  common  expression,  "  buenas 
migas  hay"  there  are  good  crumbs,  being  equivalent  to  capital 
eating.  In  very  cold  weather  the  mess  in  warmed,  and  then  is 
called  gazpacho  caliente.  Oh  !  dura  messorum  ilia — oh  !  the  iron 
mess  digesting  stomachs  of  ploughmen. 


136  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


Drinks  of  Spain — Water — Irrigation — Fountains — Spanish  Thiiytiness — 
The  Alcarraza — Water  carriers — Ablutions — Spanish  Chocolate — Agraz 
— Beer  lemonade. 

IN  dipping  into  Spanish  liquids  we  shall  not  mix  wine  with 
water,  but  keep  them  separate,  as  most  Spaniards  do ;  the  latter 
is  entitled  to  rank  first,  by  those  who  prefer  the  opinion  of  Pin- 
dar, who  held  water  to  be  the  best  of  things,  to  that  of  Anacreon, 
who  was  not  member  of  any  temperance  society.  The  pro- 
found regard  for  water  of  a  Spaniard  is  quite  Oriental  ;  at  the 
same  time,  as  his  blood  is  partly  Gothic  and  partly  Arab,  his 
allegiance  is  equally  mixed  and  divided  ;  thus,  if  he  adores  the 
juice  of  flints  like  a  Moslem,  he  venerates  the  juice  of  the  grape 
like  a  German. 

Water  is  the  blood  of  the  earth,  and  the  purificator  of  the 
body  in  tropical  regions  and  in  creeds  which,  being  regulated  by 
latitudes,  enforce  frequent  ablution  ;  loud  are  the  praises  of  Arab 
writers  of  wells  and  water-brooks,  and  great  is  their  fountain 
and  pool  worship,  the  dipping  in  which,  if  their  miraculous  cases 
are  to  be  credited,  effects  more  and  greater  cures  than  those 
worked  by  hydropathists  at  Grafenberg ;  a  Spaniards's  idea  of  a 
paradise  on  earth,  of  a  "  garden,  "is  a  well- watered  district; 
irrigation  is  fertility  and  wealth,  and  therefore,  as  in  the  East, 
wells,  brooks,  and  water-courses  have  been  a  constant  source  of 
bickering ;  nay  the  very  word  rivality  has  been  derived  fron 
these  quarrel  and  law-suit  engendering  rivers,  as  the  name  given 
to  the  well  for  which  the  men  of  Gerah  and  Isaac  differed,  was 
called  esek  from  the  contention. 

The  flow  of  waters  cannot  be  mistaken  ;  the  most  dreary 
sterility  edges  the  most  luxuriant  plenty,  the  most  hopeless  bar- 
renness borders  on  the  richest  vegetation  ;  the  line  of  demarca- 


FOUNTAINS.  137 


lion  is  perceived  from  afar,  dividing  the  tawny  desert  from  the 
verdurous  garden.  The  Moors  who  came  from  the  East  were 
fully  sensible  of  the  value  of  this  element ;  they  collected  the 
best  springs  with  the  greatest  care,  they  dammed  up  narrow 
gorges  into  reservoirs,  they  constructed  pools  and  underground 
cisterns,  stemmed  valleys  with  aqueducts  that  poured  in  rivers, 
and  in  a  word  exercised  a  magic  influence  over  this  element, 
which  they  guided  and  wielded  at  their  will ;  their  system  of 
irrigation  was  far  too  perfect  to  be  improved  by  Spaniard,  or  even 
destroyed.  In  those  favored  districts  where  their  artificial  con- 
trivances remain,  Flora  still  smiles  and  Ceres  rejoices  with 
Pomona ;  wherever  the  ravages  of  war  or  the  neglect  of  man 
have  ruined  them,  the  garden  has  relapsed  into  the  desert,  and 
plains  once  overflowing  with  corn,  gladness,  and  population,  have 
shrunk  into  sad  and  silent  deserts. 

The  fountains  of  Spain,  especially  in  the  hotter  and  more 
Moorish  districts,  are  numerous ;  they  cannot  fail  to  strike  and 
please  the  stranger,  whether  they  be  situated  in  the  public  walk, 
garden,  market-place,  or  private  dwelling.  Their  mode  of  sup- 
ply  is  simple  ;  a  river  which  flows  down  from  the  hills  is  di- 
verted at  a  certain  height  from  its  source,  and  is  carried  in  an  ar- 
tificial canal,  which  retains  the  original  elevation,  into  a  reservoir 
placed  above  the  town  which  is  to  be  served  ;  as  the  waters  rise 
to  their  level,  the  force,  body,  and  altitude  of  some  of  the  columns 
thrown  up  are  very  great.  In  our  cold  country,  where,  except 
at  Charing  Cross,  the  stream  is  conveyed  underground  and  un- 
seen, all  this  gush  of  waters,  of  dropping  diamonds  in  the  bright 
sun,  which  cools  the  air  and  gladdens  the  sight  and  ear,  is  un- 
known. Again  there  is  a  waste  of  the  "  article,"  which  would 
shock  a  Chelsea  Waterworks  Director,  and  induce  the  rate-col- 
lector to  refer  to  the  fines  as  per  Act  of  Parliament.  The  fond- 
est wish  of  those  Spaniards  who  wear  long-tailed  coats,  is  to  imi- 
tate those  gentry  ;  they  are  ashamed  of  the  patriarchal  uncivil- 
ized system  of  their  ancestors — much  prefer  the  economical  lead 
pipe  to  all  this  extravagant  and  gratuitous  splashing — they  love  a 
turncock  better  than  the  most  Oriental  Rebecca  who  comes  down 
to  draw  water.  The  fountains  in  Spain  as  in  the  East  are  the 
meeting  and  greeting  places  of  womankin  7 ;  here  they  flock,  old 


138  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

and  young,  infants  and  grandmothers.  It  is  a  sight  to  drive  a 
water-color  painter  crazy,  such  is  the  color,  costume,  and  group- 
ings, such  is  the  clatter  of  tongues  and  crockery  ;  such  is  the  life 
and  action  ;  now  trip  along  a  bevy  of  damsel  Hebes  with  upright 
forms  and  chamois  step  light  yet  true  ;  more  graceful  than  opera- 
dancers,  they  come  laughing  and  carolling  along,  poising  on  their 
heads  pitchers,  modelled  after  the  antique,  and  after  everything 
which  a  Sevres  jug  is  not.  It  would  seem  that  to  draw  water  is 
a  difficult  operation,  so  long  are  they  lingering  near  the  sweet 
fountain's  rim.  It  indeed  is  their  al  fresco  rout,  their  tertulia  ; 
here  for  awhile  the  hand  of  woman  labor  ceases,  and  the  urn 
stands  still;  here  more  than  even  after  church  mass,  do  the  young 
discuss  their  dress  and  lovers,  the  middle-aged  and  mothers  des- 
cant on  babies  and  housekeeping  ;  all  talk,  and  generally  at  once  ; 
but  gossip  refresheth  the  daughters  of  Eve,  whether  in  gilded 
boudoir  or  near  mossy  fountain,  whose  water,  if  a  dash  of  scan- 
dal be  added,  becomes  sweeter  than  eau  sucree. 

The  Iberians  were  decided  water-drinkers,  and  this  trait  of 
their  manners,  which  are  modified  by  climate  that  changes  not, 
still  exists  as  the  sun  that  regulates  :  the  vinous  Greek  Athenseus 
was  amazed  that  even  rich  Spaniards  should  prefer  water  to  wine  ; 
and  to  this  day  they  are  if  possible  curious  about  the  latter's 
quality;  they  will  just  drink  the  wine  that  grows  the  nearest, 
while  they  look  about  and  enquire  for  the  best  water  ;  thus  even 
our  cook  Francisco,  who  certainly  had  one  of  the  best  places  in 
Seville  and  who  although  a  good  artiste  was  a  better  rascal — 
qualities  not  incompatible — preferred  to  sacrifice  his  interests  ra- 
ther than  go  to  Granada,  because  this  man  of  the  fire  had  heard 
that  the  water  there  was  bad. 

The  mother  of  the  Arabs  was  tormented  with  thirst,  which  her 
Hispano-Moro  children  have  inherited  ;  in  fact  in  the  dog-days, 
of  which  here  there  are  packs,  unless  the  mortal  clay  be  fre- 
quently wetted  it  would  crumble  to  bits  like  that  of  a  figure  mo- 
deller. Fire  and  water  are  the  elements  of  Spain,  whether  at  an 
auto  de  fe  or  in  a  church-stoop ;  with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth  a 
Spaniard  smokes  like  Vesuvius,  and  is  as  dry,  combustible,  and 
inflammatory  ;  and  properly  to  understand  the  truth  of  Solomon's 
remark,  that  cold  water  is  to  a  thirsty  soul  as  refreshing  as  good 


INTENSE   HEAT.  139 


news,  one  must  have  experienced  what  thirst  is  in  the  exposed 
plains  of  the  calcined  Castiles,  where  coup  de  soleil  is  rife,  and  a 
gentleman  on  horseback's  brains  seem  to  be  melting  like  Don 
Quixote's  when  Sancho  put  the  curds  into  his  helmit.  It  is  just 
the  country  to  send  a  patient  to,  who  is  troubled  with  hydropho- 
bia. "  Those  rayes,"  to  use  the  words  of  old  Howell,  "  that  do 
but  warm  you  in  England,  do  roast  you  here  ;  those  beams  that 
irradiate  onely,  and  gild  your  honey-suckled  fields,  do  here  scorch 
and  parch  the  chinky  gaping  soyle,  and  put  too  many  wrinkles 
upon  the  face  of  your  common  mother." 

Then  when  the  heavens  and  earth  are  on  fire,  and  the  sun 
drinks  up  rivers  at  one  draught,  when  one  burnt  sienna  tone  per- 
vades the  tawny  ground,  and  the  green  herb  is  shrivelled  up  into 
black  gunpowder,  and  the  rare  pale  ashy  olive-trees  are  blanched 
into  the  livery  of  the  desert ;  then,  when  the  heat  and  harshness 
make  even  the  salamander  muleteers  swear  doubly  as  they  toil 
along  like  demons  in  an  ignited  salitrose  dust — then,  indeed,  will 
an  Englishman  discover  that  he  is  made  of  the  same  material, 
only  drier,  and  learn  to  estimate  water;  but  a  good  thirst  is  too 
serious  an  evil,  too  bordering  on  suffering,  to  be  made,  like  an  ap- 
petite, a  matter  of  congratulation  ;  for  when  all  fluids  evaporate, 
and  the  blood  thickens  into  currant  jelly,  and  the  nerves  tighten 
up  into  the  catgut  of  an  overstrung  fiddle,  getting  attuned  to  the 
porcupinal  irritability  of  the  tension  of  the  mind,  how  the  parched 
soul  sighs  for  the  comfort  of  a  Scotch  mist,  and  fondly  turns  back 
to  the  uvula-relaxing  damps  of  Devon  ! — then,  in  the  blackhole- 
like  thirst  of  the.  wilderness,  every  mummy  hag  rushing  from  a 
reed  hut,  with  a  porous  cup  of  brackish  water,  is  changed  by  the 
mirage  into  a  Hebe,  bearing  the  nectar  of  the  immortals ;  then 
how  one  longs  for  the  most  wretched  Venta,  which  heat  and  thirst 
convert  into  the  Clarendon,  since  in  it,  at  least  will  be  found  water 
and  shade,  and  an  escape  from  the  god  of  fire  !  Well  may  Span- 
ish historians  boast,  that  his  orb  at  the  creation  first  shone  over 
Toledo,  and  never  since  has  set  on  the  dominions  of  the  great 
king,  who,  as  we  are  assured  by  Senor  Berni,  "  has  the  sun  for 
his  hat," — tiene  al  sol  por  su  sombrero  ;  but  humbler  mortals  who 
are  not  grandees  of  this  solar  system,  and  to  whom  a  coup  de 
soleil  is  neither  a  joke  nor  a  metaphor,  should  stow  away  non- 


140  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

conductors  of  heat  in  the  crown  of  their  beavers.  Thus  Apollo 
himself  preserved  us.  And  oh  !  ye  our  fair  readers,  who  chance 
to  run  such  risks,  and  value  complexion,  take  for  heaven's  sake  a 
parasol  and  an  Alcarraza. 

This  clay  utensil — as  its  Arabic  name  al  Karaset  implies — is  a 
porous  refrigeratory  vessel,  in  which  water  when  placed  in  a  cur- 
rent of  hot  air  becomes  chilled  by  evaporation ;  it  is  to  be  seen 
hung  up  on  poles  dangling  from  branches,  suspended  to  waggons 
— in  short,  is  part  and  parcel  of  a  Spanish  scene  in  hot  weather 
and  localities  ;  every  posada  has  rows  of  them  at  the  entrance, 
and  the  first  thing  every  one  does  on  entering,  before  wishing 
even  the  hostess  Good  morning,  or  asking  permission,  is  to  take  a 
full  draught :  all  classes  are  learned  on  the  subject,  and  although 
on  the  whole  they  cannot  be  accused  of  teetotalism,  they  are  loud 
in  their  praises  of  the  pure  fluid.  The  common  form  of  praise 
isagua  muy  rica — very  rich  water.  According  to  their  proverbs, 
good  water  should  have  neither  taste,  smell,  nor  color,  "  ni  sabor, 
olor,  ni  color"  which  neither  makes  men  sick  nor  in  debt,  nor 
women  widows,  "  que  no  enferma,  no  adeuda,  no  enviuda  ;"  and 
besides  being  cheaper  than  wine,  beer,  or  brandy,  it  does  not 
brutalize  the  consumer,  nor  deprive  him  of  his  common  sense  or 
good  manners. 

As  Spaniards  at  all  times  are  as  dry  as  the  desert  or  a  sponge, 
selling  water  is  a  very  active  business  ;  on  every  alameda  and 
prado  shrill  voices  of  the  sellers  of  drinks  and  mouth  combustibles 
— vendedores  de  combustibles  de  boca — are  heard  crying,  "  Fire, 
fire,  candela — Water;  who  wants  water  ?" — agua  ;  quien  quiere 
agua?  which,  as  these  Orientals  generally  exaggerate,  is  des- 
cribed as  mas  fresco,  que  la  nieve,  or  colder  than  snow  ;  and  near 
them  little  Murillo-like  urchins  run  about  with  lighted  ropes  like 
artillerymen  for  the  convenience  of  smokers,  that  is,  for  every 
ninety  and  nine  males  out  of  a  hundred  ;  while  water-carriers,  or 
rather  retail  pedestrian  aqueducts,  follow  thirst  like  fire-engines  ; 
the  Aguador  carries  on  his  back,  like  his  colleague  in  the  East,  a 
porous  water-jar,  with  a  little  cock  by  which  it  is  drawn  out ;  he 
is  usually  provided  with  a  small  tin  box  strapped  to  his  waist, 
and  in  which  he  stows  away  his  glasses,  brushes,  and  some  light 
azucarillos — panales,  which -are  made  of  sugar  and  white  of  egg, 


WANT   OF    CLEANLINESS.  141 

which  Spaniards  dip  and  dissolve  in  their  drink.  In  the  town, 
at  particular  stations  water-mongers  in  wholesale  have  a  shed, 
with  ranges  of  jars,  glasses,  oranges,  lemons,  &c.,  and  a  bench  or 
two  on  which  the  drinkers  "  untire  themselves."  In  winter  these 
are  provided  with  an  anafe  or  portable  stove,  which  keeps  a  sup- 
ply of  hot  water,  to  take  the  chill  off  the  cold,  for  Spaniards  from 
a  sort  of  dropsical  habit,  drink  like  fishes  all  the  year  round. 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  on  seeing  a  peasant  drowned  in  a  river, 
observed,  "  that  he  had  never  before  seen  a  Spaniard  who  had 
had  enough  water." 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  fluid  is  ap- 
plied with  greater  prodigality  in  washing  their  inside  than  their 
outside.  Indeed,  a  classical  author  remarks  that  the  Spaniards 
only  learnt  the  use  of  hot  water,  as  applicable  to  the  toilette,  from 
the  Romans  after  the  second  Punic  war.  Their  baths  and  therma 
were  destroyed  by  the  Goths,  because  they  tended  to  encourage 
ofFeminacy ;  and  those  of  the  Moors  were  prohibited  by  the 
Gotho-Spaniards  partly  from  similar  reasons,  but  more  from  a 
religious  hydrophobia.  Ablutions  and  lustral  purifications  formed 
an  article  of  faith  with  the  Jew  and  Moslem,  with  whom  "  clean- 
liness is  godliness."  The  mendicant  Spanish  monks,  according 
to  their  practice  of  setting  up  a  directly  antagonist  principle, 
considered  physical  dirt  as  the  test  of  moral  purity  and  true  faith  ; 
and  by  dining  and  sleeping  from  year's  end  to  year's  end  in  the 
same  unchanged  woollen  frock,  arrived  at  the  height  of  their  am- 
bition, according  to  their  view  of  the  odor  of  sanctity,  insomuch 
that  Ximenez,  who  was  himself  a  shirtless  Franciscan,  induced 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  at  the  conquest  of  Granada,  to  close 
and  abolish  the  Moorish  baths.  They  forbade  not  only  the  Chris- 
tians but  the  Moors  from  using  anything  but  holy  water.  Fire, 
not  water,  became  the  grand  element  of  inquisitorial  purifica- 
tion. 

The  fair  sex  was  warned  by  monks,  who  practised  what  they 
preached,  that  they  should  remember  the  cases  of  Susanna,  Bath- 
sheba,  and  La  Cava,  whose  fatal  bathing  under  the  royal  palace 
at  Toledo  led  to  the  downfall  of  the  Gothic  monarchy.  Their 
aqueous  anathemas  extended  not  only  to  public,  but  to  minutely 
private  washings,  regarding  which  Sanchez  instructs  the  Spanish 


142  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


confessor  to  question  his  fair  penitents,  and  not  to  absolve  the 
over- washed.  Many  instances  could  be  produced  of  the  practi- 
cal working  of  this  enjoined  rule  ;  for  instance  Isabella,  the  fa- 
vorite daughter  of  Philip  II.,  his  eye,  as  he  called  her,  made  a 
solemn  vow  never  to  change  her  shift  until  Ostend  was  taken. 
The  siege  lasted  three  .years,  three  months,  and  thirteen  days. 
The  royal  garment  acquired  a  tawny  color,  which  was  called 
Isabel  by  the  courtiers,  in  compliment  to  the  pious  princess. 
Again,  Southey  relates  that  the  devout  Saint  Eufraxia  entered 
into  a  convent  of  130  nuns,  not  one  of  whom  had  ever  washed  her 
feet,  and  the  very  mention  of  a  bath  was  an  abomination.  These 
obedient  daughters  to  their  Capuchin  confessors  were  what  Gil  de 
Avila  termed  a  sweet  garden  of  flowers,  perfumed  by  the  good 
smell  and  reputation  of  sanctity,  "  ameno  jardin  de  flores,  olo- 
rosaspor  el  buen  odor  y  fama  de  santidad"  Justice  to  the  land 
of  Castile  soap  requires  us  to  observe  that  latterly,  since  the  sup- 
pression of  monks,  both  sexes,  and  the  fair  especially,  have  de- 
parted from  the  strict  observance  of  the  religious  duties  of  their 
excellent  grandmothers.  Warm  baths  are  now  pretty  generally 
established  in  the  larger  towns.  At  the  same  time,  the  interiors 
of  bedrooms  whether  in  inns  or  private  houses,  as  well  by  the 
striking  absence  of  glass  and  china  utensils,  which  to  English  no- 
tions are  absolute  necessaries,  as  by  the  presence  of  French  pie- 
dish  basins,  and  duodecimo  jugs,  indicate  that  this  u  little  damned 
spot"  on  the  average  Spanish  hand,  has  not  yet  been  quite  rub- 
bed out. 

However  hot  the  day,  dusty  the  road,  or  long  the  journey,  it 
has  never  been  our  fate  to  see  a  Spanish  attendant  use  a  single 
drop  of  water  -as  a  detergent,  or,  as  polite  writers  say,  "  perform 
his  ablutions  ;w  the  constant  habit  of  bathing  and  complete  wash- 
ing is  undoubtedly  one  reason  why  the  French  and  other  conti- 
nentals consider  our  soap-loving  countrymen  to  be  cracked.  Un- 
der the  Spanish  Goths  the  Hemerobaptistge,  or  people  who  washed 
their  persons  once  a  day,  were  set  down  as  heretics.  The  Duke 
of  Frias,  when  a  few  years  ago  on  a  fortnight's  visit  to  an  Eng- 
lish lady,  never  once  troubled  his  basins  and  jugs;  he  simply 
rubbed  his  face  occasionally  with  the' white  of  an  egg,  which,  as 
Madame  Daunoy  records,  was  the  only  ablution  of  the  Spanish 


ICED   DRINKS.  143 


ladies  in  the  time  of  Philip  IV.  ;  but  these  details  of  the  dressing- 
room  are  foreign  to  the  use  made  in  Spain  of  liquids  in  kitchen 
and  parlor. 

One  word  on  chocolate  which  is  to  a  Spaniard  what  tea  is  to 
a  Briton — coffee  to  a  Gaul.  It  is  to  be  had  almost  everywhere, 
and  is  always  excellent ;  the  best  is  made  by  the  nuns,  who  arc 
great  confectioners  and  compounders  of  sweetmeats,  sugarplums 
and  orange-flowers,  water  and  comfits, 

"  Et  tous  ces  mets  sucres  en  p£te,  ou  bien  liquides 
Dont  estomacs  devots  furent  toujours  avides." 

It  was  long  a  disputed  point  whether  chocolate  did  01  did  not 
break  fast  theologically,  just  as  happened  with  coffee  among  the 
rigid  Moslems.  But  since  the  learned  Escobar  decided  that 
liquidum  non  rumpit  jejunium,  a  liquid  does  not  break  fast,  it  has 
become  the  universal  breakfast  of  Spain.  It  is  made  just  liquid 
enough  to  come  within  the  benefit  of  clergy,  that  is,  a  spoon  will 
almost  stand  up  in  it ;  only  a  small  cup  is  taken,  una  jicara,  a 
Mexican  word  for  the  cocoa-nuts  of  which  they  were  first  made, 
generally  with  a  bit  of  toasted  bread  or  biscuit :  as  these  jicaras 
have  seldom  any  handles,  they  were  used  by  the  rich  (as  coffee- 
cups  are  among  the  Orientals)  enclosed  in  little  filigree  cases  of 
silver  or  gold  ;  some  of  these  are  very  beautiful,  made  in  the 
form  of  a  tulip  or  lotus  leaf,  on  a  saucer  of  mother-o'-pearl. 
The  flower  is  so  contrived  that,  by  a  spring  underneath,  on  rais- 
ing the  saucer,  the  leaves  fall  back  and  disclose  the  cup  to  the 
lips,  while,  when  put  down,  they  re-close  over  it,  and  form  a  pro- 
tection against  the  flies.  A  glass  of  water  should  always  be 
drunk  after  this  chocolate,  since  the  aqueous  chasse  neutralizes 
the  bilious  propensities  of  this  breakfast  of  the  gods,  as  Linnaeus 
called  chocolate.  Tea  and  coffee  have  supplanted  chocolate  in 
England  and  France ;  it  is  in  Spain  alone  that  we  are  carried 
back  to  the  breakfasts  of  Belinda  and  of  the  wits  at  Button's ; 
in  Spain  exist,  unchanged,  the  fans,  the  game  of  ombre,  tresillo 
and  the  coche  de  colleras,  the  coach  and  six,  and  omei  &ocial 
usages  of  the  age  of  Pope  and  the  l  Spectator.' 

Cold  liquids  in  the  hot  dry  summers  of  Spain  are  necessaries, 
not  luxuries  ;  snow  and  ice  drinks  are  sold  in  the  streets  at  prices 


144  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

so  low  as  to  be  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest  classes  •  the  rich 
refrigerate  themselves  with  agraz.  This,  the  Moorish  Hacaraz, 
is  the  most  delicious  and  most  refreshing  drink  ever  devised  by 
thirsty  mortal ;  it  is  the  new  pleasure  for  which  Xerxes  wished  in 
vain,  and  beats  the  "  hock  and  soda  water,"  the  "  hoc  crat  in  votis" 
of  Byron,  and  sherry  cobler  itself.  It  is  made  of  pounded  unripe 
grapes,  clarified  sugar,  and  water  •  it  is  strained  till  it  becomes 
of  the  palest  straw-colored  arnber,  and  well  iced.  It  is  particu- 
larly well-made  in  Andalucia,  and  it  is  worth  going  there  in  the 
dog-days,  if  only  to  drink  it — it  cools  a  man's  body  and  soul.  At 
Madrid  an  agreeable  drink  is  sold  in  the  streets  ;  it  is  called  Miclii 
Michi,  from  the  Valencian  Mitj  e  Mitj,  "half  and  half,"  and  is  as 
unlike  the  heavy  wet  mixture  of  London,  as  a  coal-porter  is  to  a 
pretty  fair  Valenciana.  It  is  made  of  equal  portions  of  barley 
water  and  orgeat  of  Ckufas,  and  is  highly  iced.  The  Spaniards, 
among  other  cooling  fruits,  eat  their  strawberries  mixed  with 
sugar  and  the  juice  of  oranges,  which  will  be  found  a  more  agree- 
able addition  than  the  wine  used  by  the  French,  or  the  cream  of 
the  English, — the  one  heats,  and  the  other,  whenever  it  is  to  be 
had,  makes  a  man  bilious  in  Spain.  Spanish  ices,  helados,  are 
apt  to  be  too  sweet,  nor  is  the  sugar  well  refined ;  the  ices,  when 
frozen  very  hard  and  in  small  forms,  either  representing  fruits  or 
shells,  are  called  quesos,  cheeses. 

Another  favorite  drink  is  a  weak  bottled  beer  mixed  with  iced 
lemonade.  Spaniards,  however,  are  no  great  drinkers  of  beer, 
notwithstanding  that  their  ancestors  drank  more  of  it  than  wine, 
which  was  not  then  either  so  plentiful  or  universal  as  at  the  pre- 
sent ;  this  substitute  of  grapeless  countries  passed  from  the  Egyp- 
tians and  Carthagenians  into  Spain,  where  it  was  excellent,  and 
kept  well.  The  vinous  Roman  soldiers  derided  the  beer-drinking 
Iberians,  just  as  the  French  did  the  English  before  the  battle  of 
Agincourt.  "  Can  sodden  water — barley-broth — decoct  their  cold 
blood  to  such  valiant  heat  ?"  Polybius  sneers  at  the  magnificence 
of  a  Spanish  king,  because  his  home  was  furnished  with  silver 
and  gold  vases  full  of  beer,  of  barley-wine.  The  genuine  Goths, 
as  happens  everywhere  to  this  day,  were  great  swillers  of  ale 
and  beer,  heady  and  stupifying  mixtures,  according  to  Aristotle. 
Their  Archbishop,  St.  Isidore,  distinguished  between  celia  ceria, 


ICED   LEMONADE.  143 


the  ale,  and  cerbisia,  beer,  whence  the  present  word  cerbeza  is 
derived.  Spanish  beer,  like  many  other  Spanish  matters,  has 
now  become  small.  Strong  English  beer  is  rare  and  dear; 
among  one  of  the  infinite  ingenious  absurdities  of  Spanish  cus- 
toms' law,  English  beer  in  barrels  used  to  be  prohibited,  as  were 
English  bottles  if  empty — but  prohibited  beer,  in  prohibited  bot- 
tles, was  admissible,  on  the  principle  that  two  fiscal  negatives 
made  an  exchequer  affirmative. 

PART    I.  8 


146  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Spanish  Wines — Spanish  Indifference — Wine-making — Vins  du    Pays- 
Local  Wines — Benicarl6 — Valdepenas. 

THE  wines  of  Spain  deserve  a  chapter  to  themselves.  Sherry 
indeed  is  not  less  popular  among  us  than  Murillo,  in  spite  of  the 
numbers  of  bad  copies  of  the  one,  which  are  passed  off  for  un- 
doubted originals,  and  butts  of  the  other,  which  are  sold  neat  as 
imported.  The  Spaniard  himself  is  neither  curious  in  port,  nor 
particular  in  Madeira;  he  prefers  quantity  to  quality,  and  loves 
flavor  much  less  than  he  hates  trouble  ;  a  cellar  in  a  private 
house,  of  rare,  fine,  or  foreign  wines,  is  perhaps  a  greater  curiosity 
than  a  library  of  ditto  books ;  an  hidalgo  with  twenty  names 
simply  sends  out  before  his  frugal  meal  for  a  quart  of  wine  to  the 
nearest  shop,  as  a  small  burgess  does  in  the  City  for  a  pint  of  por- 
,ter.  Local  in  every  thing,  the  Spaniard  takes  the  goods  that  the 
gods  provide  him,  just  as  they  come  to  hand  ;  he  drinks  the  wine 
that  grows  in  the  nearest  vineyards,  and  if  there  are  none,  then 
regales  himself  with  the  water  from  the  least  distant  spring.  It 
is  so  in  every  thing ;  he  adds  the  smallest  possible  exertion  of  his 
own  to  the  bounties  of  nature  ;  his  object  is  to  obtain  the  largest 
produce  for  the  smallest  labor ;  he  allows  a  life-conferring  sun 
and  a  fertile  soil  to  create  for  him  the  raw  mate-rial,  which  he  ex- 
ports, being  perfectly  contented  that  the  foreigner  should  return 
it  to  him  when  recreated  by  art  and  industry  ;  thus  his  wool,  ba- 
rilla, hides,  and  cork-bark,  are  imported  by  him  back  again  in  the 
form  of  cloth,  glass,  leather,  and  bungs. 

The  most  celebrated  and  perfect  wines  of  the  Peninsula  are 
port  and  sherry,  which  owe  their  excellence  to  foreign,  not  to  na- 
tive skill,  the  principal  growers  and  makers  being  Europeans,  and 
their  system  altogether  un-Spanish  ;•  nothing  can  be  more  rude, 
antique,  and  unscientific  than  the  wine-making  in  those  localities 


WINES   OF   SPAIN.  147 


where  no  stranger  has  ever  settled.  But  Spain  is  a  land  bottled 
up  for  antiquarians,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  national 
process  is  very  picturesque  and  classical ;  no  Ariadne  revel  of 
Titian  is  more  glittering  or  animated,  no  bas-relief  more  classical 
in  which  sacrifices  are  celebrated 

"To  Bacchus,  who  first  from  out  the  purple  grape 
Crushed  the  sweet  poison  of  misused  wine.'7 

Often  have  we  ridden  through  villages  redolent  with  vinous  aroma, 
and  inundated  with  the  blood  of  the  berry,  until  the  very  mud  was 
encarnadined  ;  what  a  busy  scene  !  Donkeys  laden  with  panniers 
of  the  ripe  fruit,  damsels  bending  under  heavy  baskets,  men  with 
reddened  legs  and  arms,  joyous  and  jovial  as  satyrs,  hurry  jostling 
on  to  the  rude  and  dirty  vat,  into  which  the  fruit  is  thrown  indis- 
criminately, the  black-colored  with  the  white  ones,  the  ripe  bunches 
with  the  sour,  the  sound  berries  with  those  decayed ;  no  pains  are 
taken,  no  selection  is  made ;  the  filth  and  negligence  are  com- 
mensurate with  this  carelessness  \  the  husks  are  either  trampled 
under  naked  feet  or  pressed  out  under  a  rude  beam  •  in  both  cases 
every  refining  operation  is  left  to  the  fermentation  of  nature,  for 
there  is  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew  them  how  we 
may. 

The  wines  of  Spain,  under  a  latitude  where  a  fine  season  is  a 
certainty,  might  rival  those  of  France,  and  still  more  those  of  the 
Rhine,  where  a  good  vintage  is  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  Their 
varieties  are  infinite,  since  few  districts,  unless  those  that  are  very 
elevated,  are  without  their  local  produce,  the  names,  colors,  and 
flavors  of  which  are  equally  numerous  and  varied.  The  thirsty 
traveller,  after  a  long  day's  ride  under  a  burning  sun,  when  seated 
quietly  down  to  a  smoking  peppery  dish,  is  enchanted  with  the 
cool  draught  of  these  vins  du  pays,  which  are  brought  fresh  to  him 
from  the  skins  or  amphora  jars  •  he  longs  to  transport  the  appa- 
rently divine  nectar  to  his  own  home,  and  wonders  that  "  the  trade" 
should  have  overlooked  such  delicious  wine.  Those  who  have 
tried  the  experiment  will  find  a  sad  change  for  the  worse  come 
over  the  spirit  of  their  dream,  when  the  long-expected  importation 
greets  their  papillatory  organs  in  London.  There  the  illusion  is 
disp^.led;  there  to  a  cloyed,  fastidious  taste,  to  a  judgment  be- 


148  i-'HE  SPANIARDS  AND    THEIR   COUNTRY. 

wildered  and  frittered  away  by  variety  of  the  best  vintages,  how 
flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable  does  this  much  fancied  beverage  ap- 
pear !  The  truth  is,  that  its  merit  consists  in  the  thirst  and  drink- 
ing vein  of  the  traveller,  rather  than  in  the  wine  itself.  Those, 
therefore,  of  our  readers  whose  cellars  are  only  stocked  with 
choice  Bordeaux,  Xerez,  and  Champagne,  may  sustain  with  re- 
signation the  absence  of  other  sorts  of  Spanish  grape  juice.  If  an 
exception  is  to  be  made,  let  it  be  only  in  favor  of  Valdepenas  and 
Manzanilla. 

The  local  wines  may  therefore  be  tossed  off  rapidly.  The 
Navarrese  drink  their  Peralta,  the  Basques  their  Chacolet,  which 
is  a  poor  vin  ordinaire  and  inferior  to  our  good  cider.  The 
Arragonese  are  supplied  from  the  vineyards  of  Carinena  ;  the 
Catalans,  from  those  of  Sidges  and  Benicarlo  ;  the  former  is  a 
rich  sweet  wine,  with  a  peculiar  aromatic  flavor ;  the  latter  is 
the  well-known  black  strap,  which  is  exported  largely  to  Bor- 
deaux to  enrich  clarets  for  our  vitiated  taste,  and  as  it  is  rich  red, 
and  full  flavored,  much  comers  to  England  to  concoct  what  is 
denominated  curious  old  port  by  those  who  sell  it.  The  fiery 
and  acrid  brandy  which  is  made  from  this  Benicarlo  is  sent  to 
the  bay  of  Cadiz  to  the  tune  of  1000  butts  a  year  to  doctor  up 
worse  sherry. 

The  central  provinces  of  Spain  consume  but  little  of  these  ; 
Leon  has  a  wine  of  its  own  which  grows  chiefly  near  Zamora 
and  Toro,  and  it  is  much  drunk  at  the  neighboring  and  learned 
university  of  Salamanca,  where,  as  it  is  strong  and  heady,  it  pro- 
motes prejudice,  as  port  is  said  to  do  elsewhere.  Madrid  is  sup- 
plied with  wines  grown  at  Tarancon,  Arganda,  and  other  places 
in  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  those  of  the  latter  are  frequently 
substituted  for  the  celebrated  Valdepenas  of  La  Mancha,  which 
was  mother's  milk  to  Sancho  Panza  and  his  two  eminent  progen- 
itors ;  they  differed,  as  their  worthy  descendant  informed  the 
Knight  of  the  Wood,  on  the  merits  of  a  cask  ;  one  of  them  just 
dipped  his  tongue  into  the  wine,  and  affirmed  that  it  had  a  taste 
of  iron  ;  the  other  merely  applied  his  nose  to  the  bung-hole,  and 
was  positive  that  it  smacked  of  leather  ;  in  due  time  when  the 
barrel  was  emptied,  a  key  tied  to  a  thong  confirmed  the  degusta- 
tory  acumen  of  these  connoisseurs. 


THE  BEST  VINEYARDS.  149 

The  red  blood  of  this  "  valley  of  stones"  issues  with  such 
abundance,  that  quantities  of  old  wine  are  often  thrown  away, 
for  the  want  of  skins,  jars,  and  casks  into  which  to  place  the 
new.  From  the  scarcity  of  fuel  in  these  denuded  plains,  the 
prunings  of  the  vine  are  sometimes  as  valuable  as  the  grapes. 
Even  at  Valdepenas,  with  Madrid  for  its  customer,  the  wine  con- 
tinues to  be  made  in  an  unscientific,  careless  manner.  Before 
the  French  invasion,  a  Dutchman,  named  Mutter,  had  begun  to 
improve  the  system,  and  better  prices  were  obtained  ;  whereupon 
the  lower  classes  in  1808,  broke  open  his  cellars,  pillaged  them, 
and  nearly  killed  him  because  he  made  wine  dearer.  It  is  made 
of  a  Burgundy  grape  which  has  been  transplanted  and  trans- 
ported from  the  stinted  suns  of  fickle  France  to  the  certain  and 
glorious  summers  of  La  Mancha.  The  genuine  wine  is  rich, 
full-bodied,  and  high-colored.  It  will  keep  pretty  well,  and  im- 
proves for  four  or  five  years,  nay,  longer.  To  be  really  enjoyed 
it  must  be  drunk  on  the  spot ;  the  curious  in  wine  should  go  down 
into  one  of  the  cuevas  or  cave-cellars,  and  have  a  goblet  of  the 
ruby  fluid  drawn  from  the  big-bellied  jar.  The  wine,  when  taken 
to  distant  places,  is  almost  always  adulterated  ;  and  at  Madrid 
with  a  decoction  of  logwood,  which 'makes  it  almost  poisonous, 
acting  upon  the  nerves  and  muscular  system. 

The  best  vineyards  and  bodegas  or  cellars  are  those  which  did 
belong  to  Don  Carlos,  and  those  which  do  belong  to  the  Marques 
de  Santa  Cruz.  One  anecdote  will  do  the  work  of  pages  in  set- 
ting forth  the  habitual  indifference  of  Spaniards,  and  the  way 
things  are  managed  for  them.  This  very  nobleman,  wno  cer- 
tainly was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  among  the  grandees  in 
rank  and  talent,  was  dining  one  day  with  a  foreign  ambassador 
at  Madrid,  who  was  a  decided  admirer  of  Valdepenas,  as  all  judi- 
cious men  must  be,  and  who  took  great  pains  to  procure  it  quite 
pure  by  sending  down  trusty  persons  and  sound  casks.  The 
Marques  at  the  first  glass  exclaimed,  "  What  capital  wine  !  where 
do  you  manage  to  buy  it  in  Madrid  ?"  "  I  send  for  it,"  was  the 
reply,  "  to  your  administrador  at  Valdepenas,  Anglice  unjust 
steward,  and  shall  be  very  happy  to  get  you  some." 

The  wine  is  worth  on  the  spot  about  57.  the  pipe,  but  the 
land  carriage  is  expensive,  and  it  is  apt,  when  conveyed  in  skins, 


150  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

to  be  tapped  and  watered  by  the  muleteers,  besides  imbibing  the 
disagreeable  smack  of  the  pitched  pigskin.  The  only  way  to 
secure  a  pure,  unadulterated,  legitimate  article,  is  to  send  up 
double  quarter  sherry  casks  ;  the  wine  is  then  put  into  one,  and 
that  again  is  protected  by  an  outer  cask,  which  acts  as  a  pre- 
ventive guard,  against  gimlets,  straws,  and  other  ingenious  con- 
trivances  for  extracting  the  vinous  contents,  and  for  introducing 
an  aqueous  substitute.  It  must  then  be  conveyed  either  on 
mules  or  in  waggons  to  Cadiz  and  Santander.  It  is  always  as 
well  to  send  for  two  casks,  as  accidents  in  this  pays  de  Vimpr&ou 
constantly  happen  where  wine  and  women  are  in  the  case.  The 
importer  will  receive  the  most  satisfactory  certificates  signed  and 
sealed  on  paper,  first  duly  stamped,  in  which  the  alcalde,  the 
muleteer,  the  guardia,  and  all  who  have  shared  in  the  booty, 
will  minutely  describe  and  prove  the  accident,  be  it  an  upset, 
a  breaking  of  casks,  or  what  not.  Very  little  pure  Valde- 
penas  ever  reaches  England  ;  the  numerous  vendors'  bold  asser- 
tions to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  As  sherry  is  a  subject 
of  more  general  interest,  it  will  be  treated  with  somewhat  more 
detail. 


SHERRY.  151 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Sherry  Wines — The  Sherry  District — Origin  of  the  Name — Varieties  of 
Soil — Of  Grapes — Pajarete— Rojas  Clemente — Cultivation  of  Vines- 
Best  Vineyards — The  Vintage — Amontillado — The  Capataz — The  Bo- 
dega— Sherry  Wine — Arrope  and  Madre  Vino — A  Lecture  on  Sherry  in 
the  Cellar — at  the  Table — Price  of  Fine  Sherry — Falsification  of  Sherry 
— Manzanilla — The  Alpistera. 

SHERRY,  a  wine  which  requires  more  explanation  than  many  of 
its  consumers  imagine,  is  grown  in  a  limited  nook  of  the  Penin- 
sula, on  the  south-western  corner  of  sunny  Andalucia,  which  oc- 
cupies a  range  of  country  of  which  the  town  of  Xerez  is  the  capi- 
tal and  centre.  The  wine-producing  districts  extend  over  a  space 
which  is  included — consult  a  map — within  a  boundary  drawn 
from  the  towns  of  Puerto  de  Sa*  Maria,  Rota,  San  Lucar,  Tribu- 
jena,  Lebrija,  Arcos,  and  to  the  Puerto  again.  The  finest  vint- 
ages lie  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Xerez,  which  has  given 
therefore  its  name  to  the  general  produce.  The  wine,  however, 
becomes  inferior  in  proportion  as  the  vineyards  get  more  distant 
from  this  central  point. 

Although  some  authors — who,  to  show  their  learning,  hunt  for 
Greek  etymologies  in  every  word — have  derived  sherry  from 
ZIJQOC,  dry,  to  have  done  so  from  the  Persian  Schiraz  would 
scarcely  have  been  more  far-fetched.  Sherris  sack,  the  term  used 
by  Falstaff,  no  mean  authority  in  this  matter,  is  the  precise  seco 
de  Xerez,  the  term  by  which  the  wine  is  known  to  this  day  in  its 
own  country  ;  the  epithet  seco,  or  dry — the  seek  of  old  English 
authors,  and  the  sec  of  French  ones — being  used  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  sweet  malvoisies  and  muscadels,  which  are  also  made 
of  the  same  grape.  The  wine,  it  is  said,  was  first  introduced 
into  England  about  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  whose  close  alliance 
with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  was  cemented  by  the  marriage  of 


152  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

.  his  son  with  their  daughter.  It  became  still  more  popular  among 
us  under  Elizabeth,  when  those  who  sailed  under  Essex  sacked 
Cadiz  in  1596,  and  brought  home  the  fashion  of  good  "  sherris 
sack,  from  whence,"  as  Sir  John  says,  "  comes  valor."  The 
visit  to  Spain  of  Charles  I.  contributed  to  keeping  up  among  his 
countrymen  this  taste  for  the  drinks  of  the  Peninsula,  which 
extended  into  the  provinces,  as  we  find  Howell  writing  from 
York,  in  1645,  for  "  a  barrell  or  two  of  oysters,  which  shall  be 
well  eaten,"  as  he  assures  his  friend,  "  with  a  cup  of  the  best 
sherry,  to  which  this  town  is  altogether  addicted."  During  the 
wars  of  the  succession,  and  those  fatal  quarrels  with  England 
occasioned  by  the  French  alliance  and  family  compact  of  Charles 
III.,  our  consumption  of  sherries  was  much  diminished,  and  the 
culture  of  the  vine  and  the  wine-making  was  neglected  and  de- 
teriorated. It  was  restored  at  the  end  of  last  century  by  the 
family  of  Gordon,  whose  houses  at  Xerez  and  the  Puerto  most  de- 
servedly rank  among  the  first  in  the  country.  The  improved 
quality  of  the  wines  was  their  own  recommendation  ;  but  as 
fashion  influences  everything,  their  vogue  was  finally  established 
by  Lord  Holland,  who,  on  his  return  from  Spain,  introduced  su- 
perlative sherry  at  his  undeniable  table. 

The  quality  of  the  wine  depends  on  the  grape  and  the  soil, 
which  has  been  examined  and  analyzed  by  competent  chemists. 
Omitting  minute  and  uninteresting  particulars,  the  first  class  and 
the  best  is  termed  the  Albariza  ;  this  whitish  soil  is  composed  of 
clay  mixed  with  carbonate  of  lime  and  silex.  The  second  sort  is 
galled  Barras*  and  consists  of  sandy  quartz,  mixed  with  lime  and 
oxide  of  iron.  The  third  is  the  Arenas,  being,  as  the  name  indi- 
cates, little  better  than  sand,  and  is  by  far  the  most  widely  ex- 
tended, especially  about  San  Lucar,  Rota,  and  the  back  of  Arcos ; 
it  is  the  most  productive,  although  the  wine  is  generally  coarse, 
thin,  and  ill-flavored,  and  seldom  improves  after  the  third  year  : 
it  forms  the  substratum  of  those  inferior  sherries  which  are  largely 
exported  to  the  discredit  of  the  real  article.  The  fourth  class  of 
soil  is  limited  in  extent,  and  is  the  Bugeo,  or  dark-brown  loamy 
sand  which  occurs  on  the  sides  of  rivulets  and  hillocks.  The 
wine  grown  on  it  is  poor  and  weak ;  yet  all  the  inferior  produces 
,of  these  different  districts  are  sold  as  sherry  wines,  to  the  great 


VINES  OF   ANDALUCIA.  153 

detriment  of  those  really  produced  near  Xerez  itself,  which  do  not 
amount  to  a  fifth  of  the  quantity  exported. 

The  varieties  of  the  grape  are  far  greater  than  those  of  the  soil 
on  which  they  are  grown.  Of  more  than  a  hundred  different 
kinds,  those  called  Listan  and  Palomino,  Blanca  are  the  best. 
The  increased  demand  for  sherry,  where  the  producing  surface  is 
limited,  has  led  to  the  extirpation  of  many  vines  of  an  inferior 
kind,  which  have  been  replaced  by  new  ones  whose  produce  is  of 
a  larger  and  better  quality.  The  Pedro  Ximenez,  or  delicious 
sweet-tasted  grape  which  is  so  celebrated,  came  originally  from 
Madeira,  and  was  planted  on  the  Rhine,  from  whence  about  two 
centuries  ago  one  Peter  Simon  brought  it  to  Malaga,  since  when 
it  has  extended  over  the  south  of  Spain.  It  is  of  this  grape  that 
the  rich  and  luscious  sweet  wine  called  Pajarete  is  made  ;  a  name 
which  some  have  erroneously  derived  from  Pajaros,  the  birds, 
who  are  wont  to  pick  the  ripest  berries ;  but  it  was  so  called  from 
the  wine  having  been  originally  only  made  at  Paxarete,  a  small 
spot  near  Xerez :  it  is  now  prepared  everywhere,  and  thus  the 
grapes  are  dried  in  the  sun  until  they  almost  become  raisins,  and 
the  syrop  quite  inspissated,  after  that  they  are  pressed,  and  a 
little  fine  old  wine  and  brandy  is  added.  This  wine  is  extremely 
costly,  as  it  is  much  used  in  the  rearing  and  maturation  of  young 
sherry  wines. 

There  is  an  excellent  account  of  all  the  vines  of  Andalucia  by 
Rojas  Clemente.  This  able  naturalist  disgraced  himself  by  being 
a  base  toady  of  the  wretched  minion  Godoy,  and  by  French  parti- 
sanship, which  is  high  treason  to  his  own  country.  Accordingly, 
to  please  his  masters,  he  "contrasts  the  frank  generosity,  the 
vivacity,  and  genial  cordiality  of  the  Xerezanos,  with  the  sombre 
stupidity  and  ferocious  egotism  of  the  insolent  people  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames,"  by  whom  he  had  just  before  been  most  hospita- 
bly welcomed.  This  worthy  gentleman  wrote,  however,  within 
sight  of  Trafalgar,  and  while  a  certain  untoward  event  was  rank- 
ling in  his  and  his  estimable  patron's  bosom. 

The  vines  are  cultivated  with  the  greatest  care,  and  demand 
unceasing  attention,  from  the  first  planting  to  their  final  decay. 
They  generally  fruit  about  the  fifth  year,  and  continue  in  full 
and  excellent  bearing  for  about  thirty-five  years  more,  when  the 


154  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

produce  begins  to  diminish  both  in  quantity  and  in  quality.  The 
best  wines  are  produced  from  the  slowest  ripening  grapes ;  the 
vines  are  delicate,  have  a  true  bacchic  hydrophobia,  or  antipathy 
to  water — are  easily  affected  and  injured  by  bad  smells  and  rank 
weeds.  The  vine-dresser  enjoys  little  rest ;  at  one  time  the  soil 
must  be  trenched  and  kept  clean,  then  the  vines  must  be  pruned, 
and  tied  to  the  stakes,  to  which  they  are  trained  very  low  ;  anon 
insects  must  be  destroyed  ;  and  at  last  (he  fruit  has  to  be  gath- 
ered and  crushed.  It  is  a  life  of  constant  care,  labor,  and  ex- 
pense. 

The  highest  qualities  of  flavor  depend  on  the  grape  and  soil, 
and  as  the  favored  spots  are  limited,  and  the  struggle  and  compe- 
tition for  their  acquisition  great,  the  prices  paid  are  always  high, 
and  occasionally  extravagantly  so ;  the  proprietors  of  vineyards 
are  very  numerous,  and  the  surface  is  split  and  partitioned  into 
infinite  petty  ownerships.  Even  the  Pago  de  Macharnudo,  the 
finest  of  all,  the  Clos  de  Vougeot,  the  Johannisberg  of  Xerez,  is 
much  subdivided  ;  it  consists  of  1200  aranzadas,  one  of  which 
may  be  taken  as  equivalent  to  our  acre,  being,  however,  that 
quantity  of  land  which  can  be  ploughed  with  a  pair  of  bullocks  in 
a  day — of  these  1200,  460  belong  to  the  great  house  of  Pedro 
Domecq,  and  their  mean  produce  may  be  taken  at  1895  butts,  of 
which  some  350  only  will  run  very  fine.  Among  the  next  most 
renowned  pagos,  or  wine  districts,  may  be  cited  Carrascal,  Los 
Tercios,  Barbiana  alia  y  baja,  Anina,  San  Julian,  Mochiele,  Car- 
raola,  Cruz  del  Husillo,  which  lie  in  the  immediate  termino  or 
boundary  of  Xerez ;  their  produce  always  ensures  high  prices  in 
the  market.  Many  of  these  vineyards  are  fenced  with  canes,  the 
arundo  donax,  or  with  aloes,  whose  stiff-pointed  leaves  form  p'ali- 
sadoes  that  would  defy  a  regiment  of  dragoons,  and  are  called  by 
the  natives  the  devil's  toothpicks  ;  in  addition,  the  capataz  del 
campOj  or  country  bailiff,  is  provided,  like  a  keeper,  with  large 
and  ferocious  dogs,  who  would  tear  an  intruder  to  pieces.  The 
fruit  when  nearly  mature  is  especially  watched  ;  for,  according 
to  the  proverb,  it  requires  much  vigilance  to  take  care  of  ripe 
grapes  and  maidens — Ninas  y  vinas,  son  mal  de  guardar. 

When  the  period  of  the  vintage  arrives,  the  cares  of  the  pro- 
prietors and  the  labors  of  the  cultivators  and  makers  increase. 


THE   VINTAGE.  155 


The  bunches  are  picked  and  spread  out  for  some  days  on  mat- 
tings j  the  unripe  grapes,  which  have  less  substance  and  spirit, 
are  separated,  and  are  exposed  longer  to  the  sun,  by  which  they 
improve.  If  the  berries  be  over-ripe,  then  the  saccharine  pre- 
vails, and  there  is  a  deficiency  of  tartaric  acid.  The  selected 
grapes  are  sprinkled  with  lime,  by  which  the  watery  and  acetous 
particles  are  absorbed  and  corrected.  A  nice  hand  is  requisite 
in  this  powdering,  which  by  the  way,  is  an  ancient  African  cus- 
tom, in  order  to  avoid  the  imputation  of  FalstafF,  <•  There  is  lime 
in  this  sack."  The  treading  out  the  fruit  is  generally  done  by 
night,  because  it  is  then  cooler,  and  in  order  to  avoid  as  much  as 
possible  the  plague  of  wasps,  by  whom  the  half-naked  operators 
are  liable  to  be  stung.  On  the  larger  vineyards  there  is  generally 
a  jumble  of  buildings,  which  contain  every  requisite  for  making 
the  wine,  as  well  as  cellars  into  which  the  must  or  pressed  grape 
juice  is  left  to  pass  the  stages  of  fermentation,  and  where  it  re- 
mains until  the  following  spring  before  it  is  removed  from  the  lees. 
When  the  new  wine  is  racked  off,  all  the  produce  of  the  same 
vineyard  and  vintage  is  housed  together,  and  called  a  partido  or  lot. 
The  vintage,  which  is  the  all-absorbing,  all  engrossing  moment 
of  the  year,  occupies  about  a  fortnight,  and  is  earlier  in  the  Rota 
districts  than  at  Xerez,  where  it  commences  about  the  20th  of 
September ;  into  these  brief  moments  the  hearts,  bodies,  and  souls 
of  men  are  condensed ;  even  Venus,  the  queen  of  neighboring 
Cadiz,  and  who  during  the  other  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  days 
of  the  year,  allies  herself  willingly  to  Bacchus,  is  now  forgotten. 
Nobles  and  commoners,  merchants  and  priests,  talk  of  nothing 
but  wine,  which  then  and  there  monopolizes  man,  and  is  to  Xerez 
what  the  water  is  at  Grand  Cairo,  where  the  rising  of  the  Nile  is 
at  once  a  pleasure  and  a  profit.  When  the  vintage  is  concluded, 
the  custom-house  officers  take  note  in  their  respective  districts  of 
the  quantity  produced  on  each  vineyard,  to  whom  it  is  sold,  and 
where  it  is  taken  to  ;  nor  can  it  be  resold  or  removed  afterwards, 
without  a  permit  and  a  charge  of  four  per  cent,  ad  valorem  duty. 
It  need  not  be  said,  that  in  a  land  where  public  officers  are  in- 
adequately paid,  where  official  honesty  and  principle  are  all  but 
unknown,  a  bribe  is  all-sufficient  {  false  returns  are  regularly 
made,  and  every  trick  resorted  to  to  facilitate  trade,  and  transfer 


156  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

revenue  into  the  pockets  of  the  collectors,  rather  than  into  the 
Queen's  treasury ;  thus  are  defeated  the  vexations  and  extor- 
tions of  commerce-hampering  excise,  to  hate  which  seems  to 
be  a  second  nature  in  man  all  over  the  world,  Commissioners 
excepted.  In  the  first  year  a  decided  difference  takes  place  in 
these  new  wines;  some  become  bastos  or  coarse,  others  sour  and 
others  good  ;  those  only  which  exhibit  great  delicacy,  body,  and 
flavor  are  called  finos  or  fine ;  in  a  lot  of  one  hundred  butts, 
rarely  more  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  can  be  calculated  as  deserving 
this  epithet,  and  it  is  to  the  high  price  paid  for  these  by  the  alma- 
cenistas  or  storers  of  wines,  that  the  grower  looks  for  remunera- 
tion ;  the  qualities  of  the  wines  usually  produced  in  each  particular 
termino  or  district  do  not  vary  much ;  they  have  their  regular 
character  and  prices  among  the  trade,  by  whom  they  are  per- 
fectly understood  and  exactly  valued. 

These  singular  changes  in  the  juice  of  grapes  grown  on  the 
same  vineyard,  invariably  take  place,  although  no  satisfactory 
reason  has  been  yet  assigned  ;  the  chemical  processes  of  nature 
have  hitherto  defied  the  investigations  of  man,  and  in  nothing  more 
than  in  the  elaboration  of  that  lusus  naturse  vel  Bacchi,  that  va- 
riety of  flavor  which  goes  by  the  name  of  amontillado  ;  this  has 
been  given  to  it  from  its  resemblance  in  dryness  and  quality  to 
the  wines  of  Montilla,  near  Cordova :  the  latter,  be  it  observed, 
are  scarcely  known  in  England  at  all.  nor  indeed  in  Spain,  ex- 
cept in  their  own  immediate  neighborhood,  where  they  supply  the 
local  consumption.  This  amontillado,  when  the  genuine  pro- 
duction of  nature,  is  very  valuable,  as  it  is  used  in  correcting 
young  Sherry  wines,  which  are  running  over  sweet ;  it  is  very 
scarce,  since  out  of  a  hundred  butts  of  vino  fino,  not  more  than 
five  will  possess  its  properties.  Much  of  the  wine  which  is  sold 
in  London  as  pure  amontillado,  is  a  fictitious  preparation,  and 
made  up  for  the  British  market. 

All  sherries  are  a  matured  mixture  of  grape  juice  ;  champagne 
itself  is  a  manufactured  wine ;  nor  does  it  much  matter,  provided 
a  palatable  and  wholesome  beverage  be  produced.  In  all  the  lead- 
ing and  respectable  houses,  the  wine  is  prepared  from  grapes 
grown  in  the  district,  nor  is"  there  the  slightest  mystery  made 
in  explaining  the  artificial  processes  which  are  adopted  ;  the  rear 


THE  CAPATAZ.  157 


ing,  educating,  and  finishing  as  it  were,  of  these  wines,  is  a  work 
of  many  years,  and  is  generally  intrusted  to  the  Capataz,  the 
chief  butler,  or  head  man,  who  very  often  becomes  the  real  mas- 
ter ;  this  important  personage  is  seldom  raised  in  Andalucia,  or 
in  any  wine-growing  districts  of  Spain  ;  he  generally  is  by  birth 
an  Austrian,  or  a  native  of  the  mountains  contiguous  to  Santan- 
der,  from  whence  the  chandlers  and  grocers,  hence  called  Los 
Montaneses,  are  supplied  throughout  the  Peninsula.  These  High- 
landers are  celebrated  for  the  length  of  their  pedigrees,  and  the 
tasting  properties  of  their  tongues ;  we  have  more  than  once  in 
Estremadura  and  Leon  fallen  in  with  flights  of  these  ragged  gen- 
try, wending,  Scotch-like,  to  the  south  in  search  of  fortune ;  few 
had  shoes  or  shirts,  yet  almost  every  one  carried  his  family  parch- 
ment in  a  tin  case,  wherein  his  descent  from  Tubal — respectable, 
although  doubtful — was  proven  to  be  as  evident  as  the  sun  is  at 
noon  day. 

These  gentlemen  of  good  birth  and  better  taste  seldom  smoke, 
as  the  narcotic  stupifying  weed  deadens  papillatory  delicacy. 
Now  as  few  wine-masters  in  Spain  would  give  up  the  cigar  to 
gain  millions,  the  Capataz  soon  becomes  the  sole  possessor  of  the 
secrets  of  the  cellar ;  and  as  no  merchants  possess  vineyards  of 
their  own  sufficient  to  supply  their  demand,  the  purchases  of  new 
wines  must  be  made  by  this  confidential  servant,  who  is  thus  ena- 
bled to  cheat  both  the  grower  and  his  own  employer,  since  he  will 
only  buy  of  those  who  give  him  the  largest  commission.  Many 
contrive  by  these  long  and  faithful  services  to  amass  great  wealth  ; 
thus  Juan  Sanchez,  the  Capataz  of  the  late  Petro  Domecq,  died 
recently  worth  £300,000.  Towards  his  latter  end,  having  been 
visited  by  his  confessor  and  some  qualms  of  conscience,  he  be- 
queathed his  fortune  to  pious  and  charitable  uses,  but  the  bulk 
was  forthwith  secured  by  his  attorneys  and  priests,  whose  charity 
began  at  home. 

As  the  chancellor  is  the  keeper  of  the  Queen's  conscience,  so 
the  Capataz  is  the  keeper  of  the  bodega  or  the  wine-store,  which 
is  very  peculiar,  and  the  grand  lion  of  Xerez.  The  rich  and 
populous  town,  when  seen  from  afar,  rising  in  its  vine-clad  knoll, 
is  characterized  by  these  huge  erections,  that  look  like  the  pent- 
houses under  which  men-of-war  are  built  at  Chatham.  These 


158  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


temples  of  Bacchus  resemble  cathedrals  in  size  and  loftiness,  and 
their  divisions,  like  Spanish  chapels,  bear  the  names  of  the  saints 
to  whom  they  are  dedicated,  and  few  tutelar  deities  have  more 
numerous  or  more  devout  worshippers;  but  Romanism  mixes 
itself  up  in  everything  of  Spain,  and  fixes  its  mark  alike  on  salt- 
pans and  mine-shafts,  as  on  boats  and  bodegas.  These  huge  re- 
positories are  all  above  ground,  and  are  the  antithesis  of  our 
under-ground  cellars.  The  wines  of  Xerez  are  thus  found  to 
ripen  both  better  and  quicker,  as  one  year  in  a  bodega  inspires 
them  with  more  life  than  do  ten  years  of  burial.  As  these  wines 
are  more  capricious  in  the  developement  of  their  character  than 
young  ladies  at  a  boarding-school,  the  greatest  care  is  taken  in 
the  selection  of  eligible  and  healthy  situations  for  their  education  ; 
the  neighborhood  of  all  offensive  drains  or  effluvia  is  carefully 
avoided,  since  these  nuisances  are  sure  to  affect  the  delicately 
organized  fluids,  although  they  fail  to  damage  the  noses  of  those 
to  whose  charge  they  are  committed ;  and  strange  to  say,  in  this 
land  of  contradictions,  Cologne  itself  is  scarcely  more  renowned 
for  its  twenty  and  odd  bad  smells  ascertained  by  Coleridge,  than 
is  this  same  tortuous,  dirty,  and  old  fashioned  Xerez.  Here,  as 
in  the  Rhenish  city,  all  the  sweets  are  bottled  up  for  exportation, 
all  the  stinks  kept  for  home  consumption.  The  new  bodegas  are 
consequently  erected  in  the  newer  portions  of  the  town,  in  dry 
and  open  places ;  connected  \uith  them  are  offices  and  workshops, 
in  which  everything  bearing  upon  the  wine  trade  is  manufactured, 
even  to  the  barrels  that  are  made  of  American  oak  staves.  The 
interior  of  the  bodega  is  kept  deliciously  cool ;  the  glare  outside 
is  carefully  excluded,  while  a  free  circulation  of  air  is  admitted  ; 
an  even  temperature  is  very  essential,  and  one  at  an  average  of 
60  degrees  is  the  best  of  all.  There  are  more  than  a  thousand 
bodegas  registered  at  the  custom  house  for  the  Xerez  district ; 
the  largest  only  belong  to  the  first-rate  firms,  and  mostly  to  Eu- 
ropeans, that  is,  to  English  and  Frenchmen.  A  heavy  capital  is 
required,  much  patience  and  forethought,  qualities  which  do  not 
grow  on  these  or  on  any  hills  of  Spain.  This  necessity  will  be 
better  understood  when  it  is  said,  that  some  of  these  stores  contain 
from  one  to  four  thousand  butts,  and  that  few  really  line  sherries 
are  sent  out  of  them  u  1  ten  or  t \velve  years  old.  Supposing. 


WINE-MIXING.  159 


therefore,  that  each  hint  averages  in  value  only  £25;  it  is  evident 
how  much  time  and  investment  of  wealth  is  necessary. 

Sherry  wine,  when  mature  and  perfect,  is  made  up  from  many 
butts.  The  "  entire,"  indeed,  is  the  result  of  Xerez  grapes,  but 
of  many  different  ages,  vintages,  and  varieties  of  flavor.  The 
contents  of  one  barrel  serve  to  correct  another  until  the  pro- 
posed standard  aggregate  is  produced  ;  and  to  such  a  certainty 
has  this  uniform  admixture  been  reduced,  that  houses  are  enabled 
to  supply  for  any  number  of  years  exactly  that  particular  color, 
flavor,  body,  &c.,  which  particular  customers  demand.  This 
wine  improves  very  much  with  age,  gets  softer  and  more  aromatic, 
and  gains  both  body  and  aroma,  in  which  its  young  wines  are 
deficient.  Indeed,  so  great  is  the  change  in  all  respects,  that  one 
scarcely  can  believe  them  ever  to  have  been  the  same  :  the  baby 
differs  not  more  from  the  man,  nor  the  oak  from  the  acorn. 

That  Capataz  has  attained  the  object  of  his  fondest  wishes, 
who  has  observed  in  his  compositions  the  poetical  principles  of 
Horace,  the  callida  junctura,  the  omne  iulit  punctum  qui  miscuit 
utile  dulci ;  this  happy  and  skilful  junction  of  the  sweet  and 
solid,  should  unite  mlness  of  body,  an  oily,  nutty  flavor  and 
bouquet,  dryness,  absence  from  acidity,  strength,  durability,  and 
spirituosity.  Very  little  brandy  is  necessary,  as  the  vivifying 
power  of  the  unstinted  sun  of  Andalucia  imparts  sufficient 
alcohol,  which  ranges  from  20  to  23  per  cent,  in  fine  sherries, 
and  only  reaches  about  12  in  clarets  and  champagnes.  Fine  pure 
sherry  is  of  a  rich  brown  color,  but  in  order  to  flatter  the  conven- 
ventional  tastes  of  some  English,  "  pale  old  sherry"  must  be  had, 
and  color  is  chemically  discharged  at  the  expense  of  delicate 
aroma.  Another  absurd  deference  to  British  prejudice,  is  the  send- 
ing sherries  to  the  East  Indies,  because  such  a  trip  is  found  some- 
times to  benefit  the  wines  of  Madeira.  This  is  not  only  expen- 
sive but  positively  injurious  to  the  juice  of  Xerez,  as  the  wine 
returns  diminished  in  quantity,  turbid,  sharp,  and  deteriorated  in 
flavor,  while  from  the  constant  fermentation  it  becomes  thinner 
in  body  and  more  spirituous.  The  real  secret  of  procuring  good 
sherry  is  to  pay  the  best  price  for  ic  at  the  best  house,  and  then 
to  keep  the  purchase  for  many  years  in  a  good  cellar  before  it  is 
drunk. 


160  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

To  return  *to  the  Capataz.  This  head  master  passes  this  life 
of  probation  in  tasting.  He  goes  the  regular  round  of  his  butts, 
ascertaining  the  qualities,  merits,  and  demerits  of  each  pupil, 
which  he  notes  by  certain  marks  or  hieroglyphics.  He  corrects 
faults  as  he  goes  along,  making  a  memorandum  also  of  the  date 
and  remedy  applied,  and  thus  at  his  next  visit  he  is  enabled  to 
report  good  progress,  or  lament  the  contrary.  The  new  wines, 
after  the  fermentation  is  past,  are  commonly  enriched  with  an 
arrope,  or  sort  of  syrup,  which  is  found  very  much  to  encourage 
them.  There  are  extensive  manufactories  of  this  cordial  at  San 
Lucar,  and  wherever  the  arenas,  or  sandy  soil,  prevails.  The 
mus',,  or  new  grape  juice,  before  fermentation  has  commenced, 
is  boiled  slowly  down  to  the  fifth  of  its  bulk.  It  must  simmer, 
and  requires  great  care  in  the  skimming  and  not  being  burnt. 
Of  this,  when  dissolved,  the  vino  de  color,  the  madre  vino,  or 
mo. her  wine,  is  made,  by  which  the  younger  ones  are  nourished 
as  by  mother's  milk.  When  old,  this  balsamic  ingredient  be- 
comes strong,  perfumed  as  an  essence,  and  very  precious,  and  is 
worth  from  three  to  five  hundred  guineas  a  butt ;  indeed  it 
scarcely  ever  will  be  sold  at  all.  All  the  principal  bodegas  have 
certain  huge  and  time-honored  casks  which  contain  this  divine 
ichor,  which  inspires  ordinary  wines  with  generous  and  heroic 
virtues ;  hence  possibly  their  dedication  of  their  tuns  not  to  saints 
and  saintesses,  but  to  Wellingtons  and  Nelsons.  It  is  from  these 
reservoirs  that  distinguished  visitors  are  allowed  just  a  sip.  Such 
a  compliment  was  paid  to  Ferdinand  VII.  by  Pedro  Domecq,  and 
the  cask  to  this  day  bears  the  royal  name  of  its  assayer.  What- 
ever quantity  is  taken  out  of  one  of  these  for  the  benefit  of 
younger  wines,  is  replaced  by  a  similar  quantity  drawn  from  the 
next  oldest  cask  in  the  cellar. 

After  a  year  or  two  trial  of  the  new  wines,  it  is  ascertained 
how  they  will  eventually  turn  out ;  if  they  go  wrong,  they  are 
expelled  from  the  seminary,  and  shipped  off  to  the  leathern-tongued 
consumers  of  Hamburgh  or  Quebec,  at  about  15s.  per  butt.  All 
the  various  forms,  stages,  and  steps  of  education  are  readily  ex- 
plained in  the  great  establishments,  among  which  the  first  are 
those  of  Domecq  and  John  David  Gordon,  and  nothing  can  exceed 
the  cordial  hospitality  of  these  princely  merchants;  whoever 


TASTING  WINE.  161 


comes  provided  with  a  letter  of  introduction  is  carried  off  bodily, 
bags,  baggage,  and  all,  to  their  houses,  which,  considering  the 
iniquity  of  Xerezan  inns,  is  a  satisfactory  move.  Then  and 
there  the  guest  is  initiated  into  the  secrets  of  trade,  and  is  handed 
over  to  the  Capataz,  who  delivers  an  explanatory  lecture  on  vi- 
nology,  which  is  illustrated,  like  those  of  Faraday,  by  experi- 
ments :  tasting  sherry  at  Xerez  has,  as  Senor  Clemente  would 
say,  very  little  in  common  with  the  commonplace  customs  of  the 
London  Docks.  Here  the  swarthy  professor,  dressed  somewhat 
like  Figaro  in  the  Barber  of  Seville,  is  followed  by  sundry  jack- 
eted and  sandalled  Ganymedes,  who  bear  glasses  on  waiters  ;  the 
lecturer  is  armed  with  a  long  stick,  to  the  end  of  which  is  tied  a 
bit  of  hollow  cane,  which  he  dips  into  each  butt ;  the  subject  is 
begun  at  the  beginning,  and  each  step  in  advance  is  explained  to 
the  listening  party  with  the  gravity  of  a  judicious  foreman  of  a 
jury  :  the  sample  is  handed  round  and  tasted  by  all,  who,  if  they 
are  wise  will  follow  the  example  of  their  leader  (on  whom  wine 
has  no  more  effect  than  on  a  glass),  by  never  swallowing  the  sips, 
but  only  permitting  the  tongue  to  agitate  it  in  the  mouth,  until  the 
exact  flavor  is  mastered  ;  every  cask  is  tried,  from  the  young 
wine  to  the  middle-aged,  from  the  mature  to  the  golden  ancient. 
Those  who  are  not  stupefied  by  the  fumes,  cannot  fail  to  come  out 
vastly  edified.  The  student  should  hold  hard  during  the  first  tri- 
als, for  the  best  wine  is  reserved  until  the  last.  He  ascends,  if 
he  does  not  tumble  off,  a  vinous  ladder  of  excellence.  It  would 
be  better  to  reverse  the  order  of  the  course,  and  commence  with 
the  finest  sorts  while  the  palate  is  fresh  and  the  judgment  un- 
clouded. The  thirster  after  knowledge  must  not  drink  too  deeply 
now,  but  remember  the  second  ordeal  to  which  he  will  afterwards 
be  exposed  at  the  hospitable  table  of  the  proprietor,  whose  joy 
and  pride  is  to  produce  fine  wine  and  plenty  of  it,  when  his  friends 
meet  around  his  mahogany. 

What  a  grateful  offering  is  then  made  to  the  jovial  god,  by 
whom  the  merchant  lives,  and  by  whom  the  deity  is  now  set  from 
his  glassy  prison  free  !  What  a  drawing  of  popping  corks,  half 
consumed  by  time  ! — what  a  brushing  away  of  venerable  cob- 
webs  from  flasks  binned  apart  while  George  the  Third  was  king ! 
The  delight  of  the  worthy  Amphitryon  on  producing  a  fresh  oot- 


162  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

tie,  exceeds  that  of  a  prolific  mother  when  she  blesses  her  hus- 
band with  a  new  baby.  He  handles  the  darling  decanter,  as  if 
he  dearly  loved  the  contents,  which  indeed  are  of  his  own  ma- 
king ;  how  the  clean  glasses  are  held  up  to  the  light  to  see  the 
bright  transparent  liquid  sparkle  and  phosphoresce  within  ;  how 
the  intelligent  nose  is  passed  slowly  over  the  mantling  surface, 
redolent  with  fragrancy  ;  how  the  climax  of  rapture  is  reached 
when  the  godlike  nectar  is  raised  to  the  blushing  lips ! 

The  wine  suffices  in  itself  for  sensual  gratification  and  for  in- 
tellectual conversation  :  all  the  guests  have  an  opinion ;  what 
gentleman,  indeed,  cannot  judge  on  a  horse  or  a  bottle  ?  When 
differences  arise,  as  they  will  in  matters  of  taste,  and  where  bot- 
tles circulate  freely,  the  master-host  decides — 

"  Tells  all  the  names,  lays  down  the  law, 
due  ya  est  bon  ;  ah,  goutez  £a." 

There  is  to  him  a  combination  of  pleasure  and  profit  in  these 
genial  banquets,  these  noctes  ccenaeque  Deum.  Many  a  good 
connection  is  thus  formed,  when  an  English  gentleman,  who  now, 
perhaps  for  the  first  time,  tastes  pure  and  genuine  sherry.  A 
good  dinner  naturally  promotes  good  humor  with  mankind  in 
general,  and  with  the  donor  in  particular.  A  given  quantity  of 
the  present  god  opens  both  heart  and  purse-strings,  until  the 
tongue  on  which  the  magic  flavor  lingers,  murmurs  gratefully 
out,  "  Send  me  a  butt  of  amontillado  pasado,  and  another  of  seco 
reanejoj  and  draw  for  the  cash  at  sight/7 

An  important  point  will  now  arise,  what  is  the  price  ?  That 
ever  is  the  question  and  the  rub.  Pure  genuine  sherry,  from  ten 
to  twelve  years  old,  is  worth  from  50  to  80  guineas  per  butt,  in 
the  bodega,  and  when  freight,  insurance,  duty,  and  charges  are 
added,  will  stand  the  importer  from  100  to  130  guineas  in  his 
cellar.  A  butt  will  run  from  108  to  112  gallons,  and  the  duty  is 
55.  6d.  per  gallon.  Such  a  butt  will  bottle  about  52  dozen. 
The  reader  will  now  appreciate  the  bargains  of  those  "  pale" 
and  "  golden  sherries"  advertised  in  the  English  newspapers  at 
865.  the  dozen,  bottles  included.  They  are  marts  expers,  although 
much  indebted  to  French  brandy,  Sicilian  Marsala,  Cape  wine, 
Devonshire  cider,  and  Thames  water. 


ADULTERATION   OF  WINES.  163 

The  growth  of  wine  amounts  to  some  400,000  or  500,000 
arrobas  annually.  The  arroba  is  a  Moorish  name,  and  a  dry 
measure,  although  used  for  liquids ;  it  contains  a  quarter  of  a 
hundredweight;  30  arrobas  go  to  a  bota,  or  butt,  of  which  from 
8000  to  10,000  of  really  fine  are  annually  exported  ;  but  the 
quantities  of  so-called  sherries,  "  neat  as  imported,"  in  the  manu- 
facture of  which  San  Lucar  is  fully  occupied,  is  prodigious,  and 
is  increasing  every  year.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the 
growing  traffic,  in  1842  25,096  butts  were  exported  from  these 
districts,  and  29,313  in  1843  ;  while  in  1845  there  were  ex- 
ported 18,135  butts  from  Xerez  alone,  and  14,037  from  the 
Puerto,"  making  the  enormous  aggregate  of  32,172  butts.  Now 
as  the  vineyards  remain  precisely  the  same,  probably  some  por- 
tion of  these  additional  barrels  may  not  be  quite  the  genuine  pro- 
duce of  the  Xerez  grape  :  in  truth,  the  ruin  of  sherry  wines  has 
commenced,  from  the  numbers  of  second-rate  houses  that  have 
sprung  up,  which  look  to  quantity,  not  quality.  Many  thousand 
butts  of  bad  Niebla  wine  are  thus  palmed  off  on  the  enlightened 
British  public  after  being  well  brandied  and  doctored  ;  thus  a 
conventional  notion  of  sherry  is  formed,  to  the  ruin  of  the  real 
thing  ;  for  even  respectable  houses  are  forced  to  fabricate  their 
wines  so  as  to  suit  the  depraved  taste  of  their  consumers,  as  is 
done  with  pure  clarets  at  Bordeaux,  which  are  charged  with  Her- 
mitages and  Benicarlo.  Thus  delicate  idiosyncratic  flavor  is  lost, 
while  headache  and  dyspepsia  are  imported ;  but  there  is  a 
fashion  in  wines  as  in  physicians.  Formerly  Madeira  was  the 
vinous  panacea,  until  the  increased  demand  induced  disreputable 
traders  to  deteriorate  the  article,  which  in  the  reaction  became 
dishonored.  Then  sherry  was  resorted  to  as  a  more  honest  and 
wholesome  beverage.  Now  its  period  of  decline  is  hastening 
from  the  same  causes,  aud  the  average  produce  is  becoming  in- 
ferior, to  end  in  disrepute,  and  possibly  in  a  return  to  the  wines 
of  Madeira,  whose  makers  have  learnt  a  lesson  in  the  stern  school 
of  adversity. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  people  at  large  of  Spain  are  scarcely 
acquainted  with  the  taste  of  sherry  wine,  beyond  the  immediate 
vicinity  in  which  it  is  made ;  and  more  of  it  is  swallowed  at 
Gibraltar  at  the  messes,  than  in  either  Madrid,  Toledo,  or  Sala- 


164  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

manca.  Sherry  is  a  foreign  wine,  and  made  and  drunk  by 
foreigners ;  nor  do  the  generality  of  Spaniards  like  its  strong  fla- 
vor, and  still  less  its  high  price,  although  some  now  affect  its 
use,  because,  from  its  great  vogue  in  England,  it  argues  civiliza- 
tion to  adopt  it.  This  use  obtains  only  in  the  capital  and  richer 
seaports;  thus  at  inland  Granada,  not  150  miles  from  Xerez, 
sherry  would  hardly  be  to  be  had,  were  it  not  for  the  demand 
created  by  our  travelling  countrymen,  and  even  then  it  is  sold 
per  bottle,  and  as  a  liqueur.  At  Seville,  which  is  quite  close  to 
Xerez,  in  the  best  houses,  one  glass  only  is  handed  round,  just  as 
only  one  glass  of  Greek  wine  was  in  the  house  of  the  father  of 
even  Lucullus  among  the  ancient  Romans,  or  as  among  the 
modern  ones  is  still  done  with  Malaga  or  Vino  de  Cypro  ;  this 
single  glass  is  drunk  as  a  chasse,  and  being  considered  to  aid 
digestion,  is  called  the  golpe  medico,  the  coup  de  medecin  ;  it  is 
equivalent,  in  that  hot  country,  to  the  thimbleful  of  Cura^oa  or 
Cognac,  by  which  coffee  is  wound  up  in  colder  England  and 
France. 

In  Andalucia  it  was  no  less  easy  for  the  Moor  to  encourage 
the  use  of  water  as  a  beverage,  than  to  prohibit  that  of  wine, 
which,  if  endued  with  strength,  which  sherry  is,  must  destroy 
health  when  taken  largely  and  habitually,  as  is  occasionally  found 
out  at  Gibraltar.  Hence  the  natives  of  Xerez  themselves  infi- 
nitely prefer  a  light  wine  called  Manzanilla,  which  is  made  near 
San  Lucar,  and  is  at  once  much  weaker  and  cheaper  than  sherry. 
The  grape  from  which  it  is  produced  grows  on  a  poor  and  sandy 
soil.  The  vintage  is  very  early,  as  the  fruit  is  gathered  before  it 
is  quite  ripe.  The  wine  is  of  a  delicate  pale  straw  color,  and  is 
extremely  wholesome ;  it  strengthens  the  stomach,  without  heat- 
ing or  inebriating,  like  sherry.  All  classes  are  passionately  fond 
of  it,  since  the  want  of  alcohol  enables  them  to  drink  more  of  it 
than  of  stronger  beverages,  while  the  dry  quality  acts  as  a  tonic 
during  the  relaxing  heats.  It  may  be  compared  to  the  ancient 
Lesbian,  which  Horace  quaffed  so  plentifully  in  the  cool  shade, 
and  then  described  as  never  doing  harm.  The  men  employed  in 
the  sherry  wine  vaults,  and  who  have  therefore  that  drink  at  their 
command,  seldom  touch  it,  but  invariably,  when  their  work  is 


THE  ALPISTERA.  165 


done,  go  to  the  neighboring  shop  to  refresh  themselves  with  a 
glass  of  "  innocent"  Manzanilla.  Among  their  betters,  clubs  are 
formed  solely  to  drink  it,  and  with  iced  water  and  a  cigar  it  trans- 
ports the  consumer  into  a  Moslem's  dream  of  paradise.  It  tastes 
better  from  the  cask  than  out  of  the  bottle,  and  improves  as  the 
cask  gets  low. 

The  origin  of  the  name  has  been  disputed  ;  some  who  prefer 
sound  to  sense  derive  it  from  Manzana,  an  apple,  which  had  it 
been  cider  might  have  passed ;  others  connect  it  with  the  distant 
town  of  Manzanilla  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  where  it  is 
neither  made  nor  drunk.  The  real  etymology  is  to  be  found  in 
its  striking  resemblance  to  the  bitter  flavor  of  the  flowers  of  camo- 
mile (manzanilla),  which  are  used  by  our  doctors  to  make  a  medi- 
cinal tea,  and  by  those  of  Spain  for  fomentations.  This  flavor  in 
the  wine  is  so  marked  as  to  be  at  first  quite  disagreeable  to 
strangers.  If  its  eulogistic  consumers  are  to  be  believed,  the 
wine  surpasses  the  tea  in  hygeeian  qualities  ;  none,  say  they,  who 
drink  it  are  ever  troubled  with  gravel,  stone,  or  gout.  Certainly, 
it  is  eminently  free  from  acidity.  The  very  best  Manzanilla  is 
to  be  had  in  London,  of  Messrs.  Gorman,  No.  16,  Mark  Lane. 
Since  "  Drink  it,  ye  dyspeptics,"  was  enjoined  last  year  in  the 
'  Handbook,'  the  importation  of  this  wine  to  England,  which  pre- 
viously did  not  exceed  ten  butts,  has  in  twelve  short  months  over- 
passed two  hundred  ;  a  compliment  delicate  as  it  is  practical, 
which  is  acknowledged  by  the  author — a  drinker  thereof — with 
most  profound  gratitude. 

By  the  way,  the  real  thing  to  eat  with  Manzanilla  is  the  alpis- 
tera.  Make  it  thus  : — To  one  pound  of  fine  flour  (mind  that  it  is 
dry)  add  half  a  pound  of  double-refined,  well-sifted,  pounded 
white  sugar,  the  yolks  and  whites  of  four  very  fresh  eggs,  well 
beaten  together  ;  work  the  mixture  up  into  a  paste  ;  roll  it  out 
very  thin ;  divide  it  into  squares  about  half  the  size  of  this  page  ; 
cut  it  into  strips,  so  that  the  paste  should  look  like  a  hand  with 
fingers ;  then  dislocate  the  strips,  and  dip  them  in  hot  melted  fine 
lard,  until  of  a  delicate  pale  brown  ;  the  more  the  strips  are 
curled  up  and  twisted  the  better ;  tVie  aipistera  should  look  like 
bunches  of  ribbons  ;  powder  them  over  with  fine  white  sugar. 


166  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

They  are  then  as  pretty  as  nice.  It  is  not  easy  to  make  them 
well ;  but  the  gods  grant  no  excellence  to  mortals  without  much 
labor  and  thought.  So  Venus  the  goddess  of  grace  was  allied  to 
hard-working  Vulcan,  who  toiled  and  pondered  at  his  fire,  as 
every  cook  who  has  an  aspiring  soul  has  ever  done. 


SPANISH   INNS.  167 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Spanish  Inns :  Why  so  Indifferent — The  Fonda — Modern  Improvements — 
The  Posada — Spanish  Innkeepers — The  Venta :  Arrival  in  it — Arrange- 
•   ment — Garlic — Dinner — Evening — Night — Bill — Identity  with  the  Inns 
of  the  Ancients. 

HAVING  thus,  and  we  hope  satisfactorily,  discussed  the  eatables 
and  drinkables  of  Spain,  attention  must  naturally  be  next  directed 
to  those  houses  on  the  roads  and  in  the  towns,  where  these  com- 
forts to  the  hungry  and  weary  public  are  to  be  had,  or  are  not  to 
be  had,  as  sometimes  will  happen  in  this  land  of  "  the  unex- 
pected ;"  the  Peninsular  inns,  with  few  exceptions,  have  long 
been  divided  into  the  bad,  the  worse,  and  the  worst;  and  as  the 
latter  are  still  the  most  numerous  and  national,  as  well  as  the 
worst,  they  will  be  gone  into  the  last.  In  few  countries  will  the 
rambler  agree  oftener  with  dear  Dr.  Johnson's  speech  to  his 
squire  Boswell,  "  Sir,  there  is  nothing  which  has  been  contrived 
by  man,  by  which  so  much  happiness  is  produced,  as  by  a  good 
tavern."  Spain  offers  many  negative  arguments  of  the  truth 
of  our  great  moralist  and  eater's  reflection ;  the  inns  in  general 
are  fuller  of  entertainment  for  the  mind  than  the  body,  and  even 
when  the  newest,  and  the  best  in  the  country,  are  indifferent  if 
compared  to  those  which  Englishmen  are  accustomed  to  at  home, 
ana  have  created  on  those  high  roads  of  the  Continent,  which 
they  most  frequent.  Here  few  gentlemen  will  say  with  Falstaff, 
"  Shall  I  not  take  mine  ease  in  mine  inn  ?"  Badness  of  roads 
and  discomforts  of  ventas  cannot  well  escape  the  notice  of  those 
who  travel  on  horseback  and  slowly,  since  they  must  dwell  on 
»  and  in  them  ;  whereas  a  rail  whisks  the  passenger  past  such 
nuisances,  with  comet-like  rapidity,  and  all  things  that  are  soon 
out  of  sight  are  quicker  out  of  mind  ;  nevertheless,  let  no  aspi- 
ring writer  be  deterred  from  quitting  the  highways  for  the  by- 
ways of  the  Peninsula.  "  There  is,  Sir,"  as  Johnson  again  said 


168  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

to  Boswell,  "  a  good  deal  of  Spain  that  has  not  been  perambu- 
lated. I  would  have  you  go  thither  ;  a  man  of  inferior  talents  to 
yours,  may  furnish  us  with  useful  observations  on  that  country." 
Why  the  public  accommodations  should  be  second-rate  is  soon 
explained.  Nature  and  the  natives  have  long  combined  to  iso- 
late still  more  their  Peninsula,  which  already  is  moated  round 
by  the  unsocial  sea,  and  is  barricadocd  by  almost  impassable 
mountains.  The  Inquisition  all  but  reduced  Spanish  man  to  the 
condition  of  a  monk  in  a  wall-enclosed  convent,  by  standing 
sentinel,  and  keeping  watch  and  ward  against  the  foreigner  and 
his  perilous  novelties  ;*  Spain  thus  unvisited  and  unvisiting, 
became  arranged  for  Spaniards  only,  and  has  scarcely  required 
conveniences  which  are  more  suited  to  the  curious  wants 
of  other  Europeans  and  strangers  who  here  are  neither  liked, 
wished  for,  nor  even  thought  of,  by  natives  who  seldom  travel  ex- 
cept on  compulsion  and  never  for  amusement ;  why  indeed  should 
they  ?  since  Spain  is  paradise,  and  each  man's  own  parish  in  his 
eyes  is  the  central  spot  of  its  glory.  When  the  noble  and  rich 
visited  the  provinces,  they  were  lodged  in  their  own  or  in  theii 
friends'  houses,  just  as  the  clergy  and  monks  were  received  into 
convents.  The  great  bulk  of  the  Peninsular  family,  not  being 
overburdened  with  cash  or  fastidiousness,  have  long  been  and  are 
inured  to  infinite  inconveniences  and  negations  ;  they  live  at 
home  in  an  abundance  of  privations,  and  expect  when  abroad  to 
be  worse  off;  and  they  well  know  that  comfort  never  lodges  at  a 
Spanish  inn ;  as  in  the  East,  they  cannot  conceive  that  any  trav- 

*  The  very  word  Novelty  has  become  in  common  parlance  synonymous 
with  danger,  change,  by  the  fear  of  which  all  Spaniards  are  perplexed ;  as  in 
religion  it  is  a  heresy.  Bitter  experience  has  taught  all  classes  that  every 
change,  every  promise  of  a  new  era  of  blessing  and  prosperity  has  ended  in 
a  failure,  and  that  matters  have  got  worse :  hence  they  not  only  bear  the 
evils  to  which  they  are  accustomed,  rather  than  try  a  speculative  ameliora 
tion,  but  actually  prefer  a  bad  state  of  things,  of  which  they  know  the  worst, 
to  the  possibility  of  an  untried  good.  Mas  vale  el  mal  conocido^  que  el  bien 
por  conocer.  "How  is  my  lady  the  wife  of  your  grace?"  says  a  Spanish 
gentleman  to  his  friend.  "  Como  estd  mi  Senora  la  esposa  de  listed  9"  "  She 
goes  on  without  novelty'* — ':  Sigue  sin  NovedadJ*'  is  the  reply,  if  the  fair  one 
be  much  the  same.  "  Vaya  Usted  con  Dios,  y  que  no  hay  a  Novedad!"  "  Go 
with  God,  your  grace  !  and  may  nothing  new  happen/'  says  another,  on 
starting  his  friend  off  on  a  journey. 


CONTINENTAL   INNS.  169 

elling  should  be  unattended  by  hardships,  which  they  endure  with 
Oriental  resignation,  as  cosas  de  Espana,  or  things  of  Spain  which 
have  always  been  so,  and  for  which  there  is  no  remedy  but  patient 
resignation  ;  the  bliss  of  ignorance,  and  the  not  knowing  of  any- 
thing better,  is  everywhere  the  grand  secret  of  absence  of  dis- 
content •  while  to  those  whose  every-day  life  is  a  feast,  every 
thing  that  does  not  come  up  to  their  conventional  ideas  becomes 
a  failure,  but  to  those  whose  daily  bread  is  dry  and  scanty,  whose 
drink  is  water,  every  thing  beyond  prison-fare  appears  to  be 
luxury. 

In  Spain  there  has  been  little  demand  for  those  accommodations 
which  have  been  introduced  on  the  continent  by  our  nomade 
countrymen,  who  carry  their  tea,  towels,  carpets,  comforts  and 
civilization  with  them ;  to  travel  at  all  for  mere  pleasure  is  quite 
a  modern  invention,  and  being  an  expensive  affair,  is  the  most  in- 
dulged in  by  the  English,  because  they  can  best  afford  it,  but  as 
Spain  lies  out  of  their  hackneyed  routes,  the  inns  still  retain  much 
the  same  state  of  primitive  dirt  and  discomfort,  which  most  of 
those  on  the  continent  presented,  until  repolished  by  our  hints  and 
guineas. 

In  the  Peninsula,  where  intellect  does  not  post  in  a  Britannic 
britzcka  and  four,  the  inns,  and  especially  those  of  the  country  and 
inferior  order,  continue  much  as  they  were  in  the  time  of  the 
Romans,  and  probably  long  before  them ;  nay  those  in  the  very 
vicinity  of  Madrid,  "  the  only  court  on  earth,3'  are  as  classically 
wretched,  as  the  hostelry  at  Aricia,  near  the  Eternal  City,  was 
in  the  days  of  Horace.  The  Spanish  inns,  indeed,  on  the  by- 
roads and  remoter  districts,  are  such  as  render  it  almost  unad- 
visable  for  any  English  lady  to  venture  to  face  them,  unless  pre- 
determined to  go  through  roughing-it,  in  a  way  of  which  none 
who  have  only  travelled  in  England  can  form  the  remotest  idea; 
at  the  same  time  they  may  be  and  have  been  endured  by  even 
the  sick  and  delicate.  To  youth,  and  to  all  men  in  enjoyment  of 
good  health,  temper,  patience,  and  the  blessing  of  foresight,  neither 
a  dinner  nor  a  bed  will  ever  be  wanting,  to  both  of  which  hunger 
and  fatigue  will  give  a  zest  beyond  the  reach  of  art ;  and  fortu- 
nately for  travellers,  all  the  Continent  over,  and  particularly  in 
Spain,  bread  and  salt,  as  in  the  days  of  Horace,  will  be  found  to 

PAT?T  TT  9 


170  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

appease  the  wayfarer's  barking  stomach,  nor  will  he  who  after 
that  sleeps  soundly  be  bitten  by  fleas,  "  quien  duerme  bien,  no  le 
pican  las  pulgas."  The  pleasures  of  travelling  in  this  wild  land 
are  cheaply  purchased  by  these  trifling  inconveniences,  which 
may  always  be  much  lessened  by  provision  in  brain  and  basket  ; 
the  expeditions  teem  with  incident,  adventure,  and  novelty  ;  every 
day  and  evening  present  a  comedy  of  real  life,  and  offer  means  of 
obtaining  insight  into  human  nature,  and  form  in  after-life  a  per- 
petual fund  of  interesting  recollections :  all  that  was  charming 
will  be  then  remembered,  and  the  disagreeable,  if  not  forgotten, 
will  be  disarmed  of  its  .sting,  nay,  even  as  having  been  in  a  battle, 
will  become  a  pleasant  thing  to  recollect  and  to  talk,  may  be 
twaddle,  about.  Let  not  the  traveller  expect  to  find  too  much  ; 
if  he  reckons  on  finding  nothing  he  will  seldom  be  disappointed ; 
so  let  him  not  look  for  five  feet  in  a  cat,  "  no  busces  cinco  pies  at 
gato."  Spain,  as  the  East,  is  not  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  over- 
fastidious  in  the  fleshly  comforts  ;  there,  those  who  over  analyze, 
who  peep  too  much  behind  the  culinary  or  domestic  curtains, 
must  not  expect  to  pass  a  tranquil  existence. 

First  and  foremost  among  these  refuges  for  the  destitute  comes 
ihefonda,  the  hotel.  This,  as  the  name  implies,  is  a  foreign 
thing,  and  was  imported  from  Venice,  which  in  its  time  was  the 
Paris  of  Europe,  the  leader  of  sensual  civilization,  and  the  sink 
of  every  lie  and  iniquity.  Its  fondacco,  in  the  same  manner, 
served  as  a  model  for  the  Turkish  fondack.  Thcfonda  is  only 
to  be  found  in  the  largest  towns  and  principal  seaports,  where 
the  presence  of  foreigners  creates  a  demand  and  supports  the 
establishment.  To  it  frequently  is  attached  a  cafe,  or  "  botil- 
lerid"  a  bottlery  and  a  place  for  the  sale  of  liqueurs,  with  a 
"  neveria"  a  snowery  where  ices  and  cakes  are  supplied.  Men 
only,  not  horses,  are  taken  in  at  afonda  ;  but  there  is  generally 
a  keeper  of  a  stable  or  of  a  minor  inn  in  the  vicinity,  to  which 
the  traveller's  animals  are  consigned.  The  fonda  is  tolerably 
furnished  in  reference  to  the  common  articles  with  which  the 
sober  indulgent  natives  are  contented  :  the  traveller  in  his  com- 
parisons must  never  forget  that  Spain  is  not  England,  which  too 
few  ever  can  get  out  of  their  heads.  Spain  is  Spain,  a  truism 
which  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  ;  and  in  its  being  Spain  consists 


THE   FONDA.  171 


its  originality,  its  raciness,  ;ts  novelty,  its  idiosyncrasy,  its  best 
charm  and  interest,  although  the  natives  do  not  know  it,  and  are 
every  day,  by  a  foolish  aping  of  European  civilization,  paring 
away  attractions,  and  getting  commonplace,  unlike  themselves, 
and  still  more  unlike  their  Gotho-Moro  and  most  picturesque 
fathers  and  mothers.  Monks,  as  we  said  in  our  preface,  are  gone, 
mantillas  are  going,  the  shadow  of  cotton  versus  corn  has  already 
darkened  the  sunny  city  of  Figaro,  and  the  end  of  all  Spanish 
things  is  coming.  Ay  !  de  mi  Espana  ! 

Thus  in  Spain,  and  especially  in  the  hotter  provinces,  it  is  heal 
and  not  cold  which  is  the  enemy :  what  we  call  furniture — car- 
pets, rugs,  curtains,  and  so  forth — would  be  a  positive  nuisance, 
would  keep  out  the  cool,  and  harbor  plagues  of  vermin  beyond 
endurance.  The  walls  of  the  apartments  are  frequently,  though 
simply,  whitewashed  :  the  uneven  brick  floors  are  covered  in 
winter  with  a  matting  made  of  the  "  esparto"  rush,  and  called 
an  "  estera"  as  was  done  in  our  king's  palaces  in  the  days  of 
Elizabeth  :  a  low  iron  or  wooden  truckle  bedstead,  with  coarse 
but  clean  sheets  and  clothes,  a  few  hard  chairs,  perhaps  a  stiff- 
backed,  most  uncomfortable  sofa,  and  a  rickety  table  or  so,  com- 
plete the  scanty  inventory.  The  charges  are  moderate  ;  about 
two  dollars,  or  Ss.  6d.,  per  head  a-day,  includes  lodging,  break- 
fast, dinner,  and  supper.  Servants,  if  Spanish,  are  usually 
charged  the  half;  English  servants,  whom  no  wise  person  would 
take  on  the  Continent,  are  nowhere  more  useless,  or  greater  in- 
cumbrances,  than  in  this  hungry,  thirsty,  tealess,  beerless,  beef- 
less  land  ;  they  give  more  trouble,  require  more  food  and  atten- 
tion, and  are  ten  times  more  discontented  than  their  masters,  who 
have  poetry  in  their  souls  ;  an  aesthetic  love  of  travel,  for  its  own 
sake,  more  than  counterbalances  with  them  the  want  of  material 
gross  comforts,  about  which  their  pudding  headed  four-full-meals- 
a-day  attendants  are  only  thinking.  Charges  are  higher  at  Mad- 
rid, and  Barcelona,  a  great  commercial  city,  where  the  hotels 
are  appointed  more  European-like,  in  accommodation  and  prices. 
Those  who  remain  any  time  in  a  large  town  bargain  with  the 
innkeeper,  or  go  into  a  boarding-house,  "  casa  de  "pupilos"  or 
"de  huespedes"  where  they  have  the  best  opportunity  of  learn- 
ing the  Spanish  language,  and  of  obtaining  an  idea  of  national 


172  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

manners  and  habits.  This  system  is  very  common.  The  houses 
may  be  known  externally  by  a  white  paper  ticket  attached  to  the 
extremity  of  one  of  the  windows  or  balconies.  This  position  must 
be  noted ;  for  if  the  paper  be  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  balcony, 
the  signal  means  only  that  lodgings  are  here  to  be  let.  Their 
charges  are  very  reasonable. 

Since  the  death  of  Ferdinand  VII.  marvellous  improvements 
have  taken  place  in  somefondas.  In  the  changes  and  chances 
of  the  multitudinous  revolutions,  all  parties  ruled  in  their  rotation, 
and  then  either  killed  or  banished  their  opponents.  Thus  royal- 
ists, liberals,  patriots,  moderates.  &c.,  each  in  their  turn,  have 
been  expatriated  ;  and  as  the  wheel  of  fortune  and  politics  went 
round,  many  have  turned  to  their  beloved  Spain  from  bitter 
exile  in  France  and  England.  These  travellers,  in  many  cases, 
were  sent  abroad  for  the  public  good,  since  they  were  thus  ena- 
bled to  discover  that  some  things  are  better  managed  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water  and  Pyrenees.  Then  and  there  suspicion 
crossed  their  minds,  although  they  seldom  will  admit  it  to  a  for- 
eigner, that  Spain  was  not  altogether  the  richest,  wisest,  strongest, 
and  first  of  nations,  but  that  she  might  take  a  hint  or  two  in  a 
few  trifles,  among  which  perhaps  the  accommodations  for  man 
and  beast  might  be  included.  The  ingress,  again,  of  foreigners 
by  the  facilities  offered  to  travellers  by  the  increased  novelties 
of  steamers,  mails,  and  diligence  necessarily  called  for  more 
waiters  and  inns.  Every  day,  therefore,  the  fermentation  occa- 
sioned by  the  foreign  leaven  is  going  on ;  and  if  the  national 
musto,  or  grape-juice,  be  not  over-drugged  with  French  brandy, 
something  decent  in  smell  and  taste  may  yet  be  produced. 

In  the  seaports  and  large  towns  on  the  Madrid  roads  the  twi- 
light of  cafe  and  cuisine  civilization  is  breaking  from  La  belle 
France.  Monastic  darkness  is  dispelled,  and  the  age  of  convents 
is  giving  way  to  that  of  kitchens,  while  the  large  spaces  and  am- 
ple accommodations  of  the  suppressed  monasteries  suggest  an 
easy  transition  into  "  first-rate  establishments,"  in  which  the 
occupants  will  probably  pay  more  and  pray  less.  News,  indeed, 
have  just  arrived  from  Malaga,  that  certain  ultra-civilized  hotels 
are  actually  rising,  to  be  defrayed  by  companies  and  engineered 
by  English,  who  seem  to  be  as  essential  in  regulating  these  nov- 


THE  POSADA.  173 


elties  on  the  Continent  as  in  the  matters  of  railroads  and  steam- 
boats. Rooms  are  to  be  papered,  brick  floors  to  be  exchanged 
for  boards,  carpets  to  be  laid  down,  fireplaces  to  be  made,  and 
bells  are  to  be  hung,  incredible  as  it  may  appear  to  all  who  re- 
member Spain  as  it  was.  They  will  ring  the  knell  of  nationality  ; 
and  we  shall  be  much  mistaken  if  the  grim  old  Cid,  when  the 
first  one  is  pulled  at  Burgos,  does  not  answer  it  himself  by  knock- 
ing the  innovator  down.  Nay,  more,  for  wonders  never  cease  ; 
vague  rumors  are  abroad  that  secret  and  solitary  closets  are 
contemplated,  in  which,  by  some  magical  mechanism,  sudden 
waters  are  to  gush  forth ;  but  this  report,  like  others  via  Madrid 
and  Paris  telegraph  requires  confirmation.  Assuredly,  the  spirit 
of  the  Holy  Inquisition,  which  still  hovers  over  orthodox  Spain, 
will  long  ward  off  these  English  heresies,  which  are  rejected  as 
too  bad  even  by  free-thinking  France. 

The  genuine  Spanish  town  inn  is  called  the  posada,  as  being 
meant  to  mean,  a  house  of  repose  after  the  pains  of  travel. 
Strictly  speaking,  the  keeper  is  only  bound  to  provide  lodging, 
salt,  and  the  power  of  cooking  whatever  the  traveller  brings 
with  him  or  can  procure  out  of  doors  ;  and  in  this  it  differs  from 
ihefonda,  in  which  meats  and  drinks  are  furnished.  The  posada 
ought  only  to  be  compared  to  its  type,  the  khan  of  the  East,  and 
never  to  the  inn  of  Europe.  If  foreigners,  and  especially 
Englishmen,  would  bear  this  in  mind,  they  would  save  them- 
selves a  great  deal  of  time,  trouble,  and  disappointment,  and  not 
expose  themselves  by  their  loss  of  temper  on  the  spot,  or  in  their 
note-books.  No  Spaniard  is  ever  put  out  at  meeting  with 
neither  attention  nor  accommodation,  although  he  maddens  in  a 
moment  on  other  occasions  at  the  slightest  personal  affront,  for 
his  blood  boils  without  fire.  He  takes  these  things  coolly,  which 
colder-blooded  foreigners  seldom  do.  The  native,  like  the 
Oriental,  does  not  expect  to  find  anything,  and  accordingly  is 
never  surprised  at  only  getting  what  he  brings  with  him.  His 
surprise  is  reserved  for  those  rare  occasions  when  he  finds  any- 
thing actually  ready,  which  he  considers  to  be  a  godsend.  As 
most  travellers  carry  their  provisions  with  them,  the  uncertainty 
of  demand  would  prevent  mine  host  from  filling  his  larder  with 
perishable  commodities  ;  and  formerly,  owing  to  absurd  locaJ 


174  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

privileges,  he  very  often  was  not  permitted  to  sell  objects  of 
consumption  to  travellers,  because  the  lords  or  proprietors  of  the 
town  or  village  had  set  up  other  shops,  little  monopolies  of  their 
own.  These  inconveniences  sound  worse  on  paper  that  in  prac- 
tice ;  for  whenever  laws  are  decidedly  opposed  to  common  sense 
and  the  public  benefit,  they  are  neutralized  in  practice  ;  the 
means  to  elude  them  are  soon  discovered,  and  the  innkeeper,  if 
he  has  not  the  things  by  him  himself,  knows  where  to  get  them. 
On  starting  next  day  a  sum  is  charged  for  lodging,  service,  and 
dressing  the  food  :  this  is  called  el  ruido  de  casa,  an  indemnifica- 
tion to  mine  host  for  the  noise,  the  disturbance,  that  the  traveller 
is  supposed  to  have  created,  which  is  the  old  Italian  incommodo 
de  la  casa,  the  routing  and  inconveniencing  of  the  house  ;  and 
no  word  can  be  better  chosen  to  express  the  varied  and  never- 
ceasing  din  of  mules,  muleteers,  songs,  dancing,  and  laughing, 
the  dust,  the  row,  which  Spaniards,  men  as  well  as  beasts,  kick 
up.  The  English  traveller,  who  will  have  to  pay  the  most  in 
purse  and  sleep  for  his  noise,  will  often  be  the  only  quiet  person 
in  the  house,  and  might  claim  indemnification  for  the  injury 
done  to  his  acoustic  organs,  on  the  principle  of  the  Turkish 
soldier  who  forces  his  entertainer  to  pay  him  teeth-money,  to 
compensate  for  the  damage  done  to  his  morals  and  incisors  from 
masticating  indifferent  rations. 

Akin  to  the  posada  is  the  " parador,"  a  word  probably  derived 
from  Waradah,  Arabice,  "  a  halting-place  ;"  it  is  a  huge  caravan- 
sary for  the  reception  of  waggons,  carts,  and  beasts  of  burden; 
these  large  establishments  are  often  placed  outside  the  town  to 
avoid  the  heavy  duties  and  vexatious  examinations  at  the  gates, 
where  dues  on  all  articles  of  consumption  are  levied  both  for 
municipal  and  government  purposes.  They  are  the  old  sisa,  a 
word  derived  from  the  Hebrew  Sisah,  to  take  a  sixth  part,  and 
are  now  called  el  derecho  de  puertas,  the  gate-due  ;  and  have 
always  been  as  unpopular  as  the  similar  octroi  of  France  ;  and 
as  they  are  generally  farmed  out,  they  are  exacted  from  the 
peasantry  with  great  severity  and  incivility.  There  is  perhaps 
no  single  grievance  among  the  many,  in  the  mistaken  system  of 
Spanish  political  and  fiscal  economy,  which  tends  to  create  and 
keep  alive,  by  its  daily  retail  worry  and  often  wholesale  injustice* 


SPANISH  INNKEEPERS.  175 


so  great  a  feeling  of  discontent  and  ill-will  towards  authority  as 
this  does ;  it  obstructs  both  commerce  and  travellers.  The  officers 
are,  however,  seldom  either  strict  or  uncivil  to  the  higher  classes, 
and  if  courteously  addressed  by  the  stranger,  and  told  that  he  is 
an  English  gentleman,  the  official  Cerberi  open  the  gates  and 
let  him  pass  unmolested,  and  still  more  if  quieted  by  the  Vir- 
gilian  sop  of  a  bribe.  The  laws  in  Spain  are  indeed  strict  on 
paper,  but  those  who  administer  them,  whenever  it  suits  their 
private  interest,  that  is  ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred,  evade 
and  defeat  them  ;  they  obey  the  letter,  but  do  not  perform  the 
spirit,  "  se  obedece,  pero  no  se  cumple  ;"  indeed,  the  lower  classes 
of  officials  in  particular  are  so  inadequately  paid  that  they  are 
compelled  to  eke  out  a  livelihood  by  taking  bribes  and  little 
presents,  which,  as  Backshish  in  the  East,  may  always  be  offered, 
and  will  always  be  accepted,  as  a  matter  of  compliment.  The 
idea  of  a  bribe  must  be  concealed  ;  it  shocks  their  dignity,  their 
sense  of  honor,  their  "pundonor  :"  if,  however,  the  money  be 
given  to  the  head  person  as  something  for  his  people  to  drink, 
the  delicate  attention  is  sacked  by  the  chief,  properly  appreciated, 
and  works  its  due  effect. 

Another  term,  almost  equivalent  to  the  "  posada,"  is  the  "  meson," 
which  is  rather  applicable  to  the  inns  of  the  rural  and  smaller 
towns,  to  the  "  liosterias"  than  to  those  of  the  greater.  The  "  me- 
sonero"  like  the  Spanish  "ventera,"  has  a  bad  reputation.  It  is 
always  as  well  to  stipulate  something  about  prices  beforehand. 
The  proverb  says,  "  Por  un  ladron,  pierden  ciento  en  el  meson" — 
"  Ventera  hermosa,  mat  para  la  boha."  "  For  every  one  who  is 
robbed  on  the  road,  a  hundred  arc  in  the  inn."— V  The  fairer  the 
hostess,  the  fouler  the  reckoning."  It  is  among  these  innkeepers 
that  the  real  and  worst  robbers  of  Spain  are  to  be  met  with,  since 
these  classes  of  worthies  are  everywhere  only  thinking  how  much 
they  can  with  decency  overcharge  in  their  bills.  This  is  but 
fair,  for  nobody  would  be  an  innkeeper  if  it  were  not  for  the  profit. 
The  trade  of  innkeeping  is  among  those  which  are  considered 
derogatory  in  Spain,  where  so  many  Hindoo  notions  of  caste,  self- 
respect,  purity  of  blood,  etc.,  exist.  The  harboring  strangers  for 
gain  is  opposed  to  every  ancient  and  Oriental  law  of  sacred  hos- 
pitality. Now  no  Spaniard,  if  he  can  help  it,  likes  to  degrade 


176  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

himself;  this  accounts  for  the  number  of  fondas  in  towns  being 
kept  by  Frenchmen,  Italians,  Catalans,  Biscayans,  who  are  all 
foreigners  in  the  eye  of  the  Castilian,  and  disliked  and  held  cheap ; 
accordingly  the  innkeeper  in  Don  Quixote  protests  that  "he  is  a 
Christian,  although  a  ventero,  nay,  a  genuine  old  one — Cristiano 
viejo  rancio  ;  an  old  Christian  being  the  common  term  used  to 
distinguish  the  genuine  stock  from  those  renegade  Jews  and  Moors 
who,  rather  than  leave  Spain,  became  pseudo- Christians  and  pub- 
licans. 

The  country  Parador,  Meson,  Posada,  and  Venta,  call  it  how 
you  will,  is  the  Roman  stabulum,  whose  original  intention  was 
the  housing  of  cattle,  while  the  accommodation  of  travellers  was 
secondary,  and  so  it  is  in  Spain  to  this  day.  The  accommodation 
for  the  beast  is  excellent ;  cool,  roomy  stables,  ample  mangers, 
a  never-failing  supply  of  fodder  and  water,  every  comfort  and  lux- 
ury which  the  animal  is  capable  of  enjoying,  is  ready  on  the  spot ; 
as  regards  man,  it  is  just  the  reverse  ;  he  must  forage  abroad  for 
anything  he  may  want.  Only  a  small  part  of  the  barn  is  allotted 
him,  and  then  he  is  lodged  among  the  brutes  below,  or  among  the 
trusses  and  sacks  of  their  food  in  the  lofts  above.  He  finds,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  that  if  he  asks  the  owner  what  he  has  got,  he  will 
be  told  that  "  there  is  everything,"  hay  de  todo,  just  as  the  rogue 
of  a  ventero  informed  Sancho  Panza  that  his  empty  larder  con- 
tained all  the  birds  of  the  air,  all  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  all  the 
fishes  of  the  sea, — a  Spanish  magnificence  of  promise,  which,  when 
reduced  to  plain  English,  too  often  means,  as  in  that  case,  there  is 
everything  that  you  have  brought  with  you.  This  especially  oc- 
curs in  the  venlas  of  the  out-of-the-way  and  rarely-visited  districts, 
which,  however  empty  their  larders,  are  full  of  the  spirit  of  Don 
Quixote  to  the  brim;  and  the  everyday  occurrences  in  them  are 
so  strange,  and  one's  life  is  so  dramatic,  that  there  is  much  diffi- 
culty in  "  realizing,"  as  the  Americans  say ;  all  is  so  like  being 
in  a  dream  or  at  a  play,  that  one  scarcely  can  believe  it  to  be  ac- 
tually taking  place  and  true.  The  man  of  the  note-book  and  the 
artist  almost  forget  that  there  is  nothing  to  eat ;  meanwhile  all 
this  food  for  the  mind  and  portfolio,  all  this  local  color  and  odd- 
ness,  is  lost  upon  your  Spanish  companion,  if  he  be  one  of  the 
better  classes :  he  is  ashamed  where  you  are  enchanted ;  he 


THE   VENTA.  177 


blushes  at  the  sad  want  of  civilization,  clean  table-cloth,  and  beef, 
steaks,  and  perhaps  he  is  right :  at  all  events,  while  you  are  raving 
about  the  Goths,  Moors,  and  this  lifting  up  the  curtain  of  two 
thousand  years  ago,  he  is  thinking  of  Mivart's;  and  when  you 
quote  Martial,  he  and  the  ventero  set  you  down  as  talking  non- 
sense, and  stark  staring  mad  ;  nay,  a  Spanish  gentleman  is  often 
affronted,  and  suspects,  from  the  impossibility  to  him,  that  such 
things  can  be  objects  of  real  admiration,  that  you  are  laughing  at 
him  in  your  sleeve,  and  considering  his  country  as  Roman,  African^ 
or,  in  a  word,  as  un-European,  which  is  what  he  particularly  dis- 
likes and  resents. 

These  ventas  have  from  time  immemorial  been  the  subject  of 
jests  and  pleasantries  to  Spanish  and  foreign  wits.  Quevedo  and 
Cervantes  indulge  in  endless  diatribes  against  the  roguery  of  the 
masters,  and  the  misery  of  the  accommodations,  while  Gongora 
compares  them  to  Noah's  ark ;  and  in  truth  they  do  contain  a 
variety  of  animals,  from  the  big  to  the  small,  and  more  than  a 
pair,  of  more  than  one  kind  of  the  latter.  The  word  venta  is 
derived  from  the  Latin  vendendo,  on  the  lucus  a  non  lucendo 
principle  of  etymology,  because  provisions  are  not  sold  in  it  to 
travellers :  old  Covarrubias  explains  this  mode  of  dealing  as 
consisting  "  especially  in  selling  a  cat  for  a  hare,"  which  indeed 
was  and  is  so  usual  a  venta  practice,  that  venderlo  a  uno  gato 
por  liebre  has  become  in  common  Spanish  parlance  to  be  equiva- 
lent to  doing  or  taking  one  in.  The  natives  do  not  dislike  the 
feline  tribe  when  well  stewed  :  no  cat  was  safe  in  the  Alhambra, 
the  galley-slaves  bagged  her  in  a  second.  This  venta  trait  of 
Iberian  gastronomy  did  not  escape  the  compiler  of  Gil  Bias. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  a  venta  strictly  speaking,  is  an  isolated 
country  inn,  or  house  of  reception  on  the  road,  and,  if  it  be  not 
one  of  physical  entertainment,  it  is  at  least  one  of  moral,  and 
accordingly  figures  in  prominent  characters  in  all  the  personal 
narratives  and  travels  in  Spain ;  it  sharpens  the  wit  of  both 
hungry  cooks  and  lively  authors,  and  ingenii  largitor  venter  is 
as  old  as  Juvenal.  Many  of  these  ventas  have  been  built  on  a 
large  scale  by  the  noblemen  or  convent  brethren  to  whom  the 
village  or  adjoining  territory  belonged,  and  some  have  at  a 
distance  quite  the  air  of  a  gentleman's  mansion.  Their  walls, 

9* 


178  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

towers,  and  often  elegant  elevations,  glitter  in  the  sun,  gay  and 
promising,  while  all  within  is  dark,  dirty,  and  dilapidated,  and 
no  better  than  a  whitened  sepulchre.  The  ground  floor  is  a  sort 
of  common  room  for  men  and  beasts;  the  portion  appropriated 
to  the  stables  is  often  arched  over,  and  is  very  imperfectly  lighted 
to  keep  it  cool,  so  that  even  by  day  the  eye  has  some  difficulty 
at  first  in  making  out  the  details.  The  ranges  of  mangers  are 
fixed  round  the  walls,  and  the  harness  of  the  different  animals 
suspended  on  the  pillars  which  support  the  arches ;  a  wide  door 
always  open  to  the  road,  leads  into  this  great  stable ;  a  small 
space  in  the  interior  is  generally  left  unincumbered,  into  which  the 
traveller  enters  on  foot  or  on  horseback  ;  no  one  greets  him  ;  no 
obsequious  landlord,  bustling  waiter,  or  simpering  chambermaid 
takes  any  notice  of  his  arrival :  the  ventero  sits  in  the  sun  smok- 
ing, while  his  wife  continues  her  uninterrupted  chasse  for  "  small 
deer"  in  the  thick  covers  of  her  daughter's  hair ;  nor  does  the 
guest  pay  much  attention  to  them  ;  he  proceeds  to  a  gibbous  water- 
jar,  which  is  always  set  up  in  a  visible  place,  dips  in  with  the 
ladle,  or  takes  from  the  shelf  in  the  wall  an  alcarraza  of  cold 
water ;  refreshes  his  baked  clay,  refills  it,  and  replaces  it  in  its 
hole  on  the  taller,  which  resembles  the  decanter  stands  in  a  but- 
ler's pantry:  he  then  proceeds,  unaided  by  ostler  or  boots,  to  se- 
lect a  stall  for  his  beast, — unsaddles  and  unloads,  and  in  due  time 
applies  to  the  ventero  for  fodder ;  the  difference  of  whose  cool  re- 
ception contrasts  with  the  eager  welcome  which  awaits  the  travel- 
ler at  bedtime  :  his  arrival  is  a  godsend  to  the  creeping  tribe,  who, 
like  the  ventero,  have  no  regular  larder ;  it  is  not  upstairs  that  he 
eats,  but  where  he  is  eaten  like  Polonius  ;  the  walls  are  frequently 
stained  with  the  marks  of  nocturnal  combats,  of  those  internecine, 
truly  Spanish  guerrillas,  which  are  waged  without  an  Elliot  treaty, 
against  enemies  who,  if  not  exterminated,  murder  sleep.  Were 
these  fleas  and  French  ladybirds  unanimous,  they  would  eat  up  a 
Goliath ;  but  fortunately,  like  other  Spaniards,  they  never  act 
together,  and  are  consequently  conquered  and  slaughtered  in  de- 
tail ;  hence  the  proverbial  expression  for  great  mortality  among 
men,  mueren  como  chinches. 

Having  first  provided  for  the  wants  and  comforts  of  his  beast, 
for  "the  master's  eye  fattens  the  horse,"  the  traveller  begins  to 


ARRANGEMENT   OF   THE   VENTA.  179 

think  of  himself.  One,  and  the  greater  side  of  the  building,  is 
destined  to  the  cattle,  the  other  to  their  owners.  Immediately 
opposite  the  public  entrance  is  the  staircase  that  leads  to  the 
upper  part  of  the  building,  which  -is  dedicated  to  the  lodgment 
of  fodder,  fowls,  vermin,  and  the  better  class  of  travellers.  The 
arrangement  of  the  larger  class  of  posadas  and  ventas  is  laid  out 
on  the  plan  of  a  convent,  and  is  well  calculated  to  lodge  the 
greatest  number  of  inmates  in  the  smallest  space.  The  ingress 
and  egress  are  facilitated  by  a  long  corridor,  into  which  the  doors 
of  the  separate  rooms  open  :  these  are  called  "  cuartos"  whence 
our  word  "  quarters"  may  be  derived.  There  is  seldom  any  fur- 
niture in  them ;  whatever  is  wanted,  is  or  is  not  to  be  had  of  the 
host  from  some  lock-up  store.  A  rigid  puritan  will  be  much  dis- 
tressed for  the  lack  of  any  artificial  contrivance  to  hold  water ; 
the  best  toilette  on  these  occasions  is  a  river's  bank,  but  rivers  in 
unvisited  interiors  of  the  Castiles  are  often  rarer  even  than  water- 
basins.  It  is,  however,  no  use  to  draw  nets  in  streams  where 
there  are  no  fish,  nor  to  expect  to  find  conveniences  which  no  one 
else  ever  asks  for,  and  those  articles  which  seem  to  the  foreigner 
to  be  of  the  commonest  and  daily  necessity,  are  unknown  to  the 
natives.  However,  as  there  are  no  carpets  to  be  spoiled,  and  cold 
water  retains  its  properties  although  brought  up  in  a  horse-bucket 
or  in  the  cook's  brass  cauldron,  ablutions,  as  the  albums  express 
it,  can.  be  performed.  What  a  school,  after  all,  a  venta  is  to  the 
slaves  of  comforts,  and  without  how  many  absolute  essentials  do 
they  manage  to  get  on,  and  happily  !  What  lessons  are  taught 
of  good-humored  patience,  and  that  British  sailor  characteristic  of 
making  the  best  of  every  occurrence,  and  deeming  any  port  a 
good  one  in  a  storm !  Complaint  is  of  no  use;  if.  you  tell  the 
landlord  that  his  wine  is  more  sour  than  his  vinegar,  he  will 
gravely  reply,  "  Senor,  that  cannot  be,  for  both  came  out  of  the 
same  cask." 

The  portion  of  the  ground-floor  which  is  divided  by  the  public 
entrance  from  the  stables,  is  dedicated  to  the  kitchen  and  accom- 
modation of  the  travellers.  The  kitchen  consists  of  a  huge  open 
range,  generally  on  the  floor,  the  ollas  pots  and  culinary  vessels 
being  placed  against  the  fire  arranged  in  circles,  as  described  by 
Martial,  "  multa  villica  quern  coronat  olid,"  who,  as  a  good  Span- 


180  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


iard  would  do  to  this  day,  after  thirty-five  years'  absence  at  Rome, 
writes,  after  his  return  to  Spain,  to  his  friend  Juvenal  a  full 
account  of  the  real  comforts  that  he  once  more  enjoys  in  his  best- 
beloved  patria,  and  which  remind  us  of  the  domestic  details  in  the 
opening  chapter  of  Don  Quixote.  These  rows  of  pipkins  are  kept 
up  by  round  stones  called  "  sesos"  brains  ;  above  is  a  high,  wide 
chimney,  which  is  armed  with  iron- work  for  suspending  pots  of  a 
large  size  ',  sometimes  there  are  a  few  stoves  of  masonry,  but 
more  frequently  they  are  only  the  portable  ones  of  the  East. 
Around  the  blackened  walls  are  arranged  pots  and  pipkins,  gridi- 
rons arid  frying-pans,  which  hang  in  rows,  like  tadpoles  of  all  sizes, 
to  accommodate  large  or  small  parties,  and  the  more  the  better ;  it 
is  a  good  sign,  "  en  casa  llena,  pronto  se  guisa  cena."  Supper  is 
then  sooner  ready. 

The  vicinity  of  the  kitchen  fire  being  the  warmest  spot,  and 
the  nearest  to  the  flesh-pot,  is  the  querencia,  the  favorite  "  resort" 
of  the  muleteers  and  travelling  bagsmen,  especially  when  cold, 
wet  and  hungry.  The  first  come  are  the  best  served,  says  the 
proverb,  in  the  matters  of  soup  and  love.  The  earliest  arrivals 
take  the  cosiest  corner  seats  near  the  fire,  and  secure  the  prompt- 
est non-attendance ;  for  the  better  class  of  guests  there  is  some- 
times a  "  private  apartment,"  or  the  boudoir  of  the  ventera,  which 
is  made  over  to  those  who  bring  courtesy  in  their  mouths,  and 
seem  to  have  cash  in  their  pockets :  but  these  out-of-the-way 
curiosities  of  comfort  do  not  always  suit  either  author  or  artist, 
and  the  social  kitchen  is  preferable  to  solitary  state.  When  a 
stranger  enters  into  it,  if  he  salutes  the  company,  •'  My  lords  and 
knights,  do  not  let  your  graces  molest  yourselves,"  or  courteously 
indicates  his  desire  to  treat  them  with  respect,  they  will  assuredly 
more  than  to  return  the  compliment,  and  as  good  breeding  is 
instinctive  in  the  Spaniard,  will  rise  and  insist  on  his  taking  the 
best  and  highest  seat.  Greater,  indeed,  is  their  reward  and  satis- 
faction, if  they  discover  that  the  invited  one  can  talk  to  them  in 
their  own  lingo,  and  understands  their  feelings  by  circulating  his 
cigars  and  wine  lota  among  them. 

At  the  side  of  the  kitchen  is  a  den  of  a  room,  into  which  the 
ventero  keeps  stowed  away  that  stock  of  raw  materials  which 
forms  the  fonmlatinn  of  t.no  national  cuisine,  and  in  which  garlic 


DINNERS  IN   THE  VENTA.  181 

plays  the  first  fiddle.  The  very  name,  like  that  of  monk,  is 
enough  to  give  offence  to  most  English.  The  evil  consists,  how- 
ever, in  the  abuse,  not  in  the  use :  from  the  quantity  eaten  in  all 
southern  countries,  where  it  is  considered  to  be  fragrant,  palatable, 
stomachic,  and  invigorating,  we  must  assume  that  it  is  suited  by 
nature  to  local  tastes  and  constitutions.  Wherever  any  particular 
herb  grows,  there  lives  the  ass  who  is  to  eat  it.  "  Donde  crece  la 
escoba,  ncrce  el  asno  que  la  roya."  Nor  is  garlic  necessarily  either 
a  poison  or  a  source  of  baseness ;  for  Henry  IV.  was  no  sooner 
born,  than  his  lips  were  rubbed  with  a  clove  of  it  by  his  grand- 
father, after  the  revered  old  custom  of  Beam. 

Bread,  wine,  and  raw  garlic,  says  the  proverb,  make  a  young 
man  go  briskly,  Pan,  vino,  y  ajo  crudo,  hacen  andar  al  mozo  agudo. 
The  better  classes  turn  up  their  noses  at  this  odoriferous  delicacy 
of  the  lower  classes,  which  was  forbidden  per  statute  by  Alonzo 
XI.  to  his  knights  of  La  Banda ;  and  Don  Quixote  cautions 
Sancho  Panza  to  be  moderate  in  this  food,  as  not  becoming  to  a 
governor:  with  even  such  personages  however  it  is  a  struggle, 
and  one  of  the  greatest  sacrifices  to  the  altar  of  civilization  and 
les  convenances.  To  give  Spanish  garlic  its  due,  it  must  be  said 
that,  when  administered  by  a  judicious  hand  (for,  like  prussic 
acid,  all  depends  on  the  quantity),  it  is  far  milder  than  the  Eng- 
lish. Spanish  garlic  and  onions  degenerate  after  three  years' 
planting  when  transplanted  into  England.  They  gain  in  pungen- 
cy and  smell,  just  as  English  foxhounds,  when  drafted  into  Spain, 
lose  their  strength  and  scent  in  the  third  generation.  A  clove  of 
garlic  is  called  un  diente,  a  tooth.  Those  who  dislike  the  piquant 
vegetable  must  place  a  sentinel  over  the  cook  of  the  venta  while 
she  is  putting  into  her  cauldron  the  ingredients  of  his  supper,  or 
Avicenna  will  not  save  him ;  for  if  God  sends  meats,  and  here 
they  are  a  godsend,  the  evil  one  provides  the  cooks  of  the  venta, 
who  certainly  do  bedevil  many  things. 

Thrice  happy,  then,  the  man  blessed  with  a  provident  servant 
who  has  foraged  on  the  road,  and  comes  prepared  with  cates  on 
which  no  Castilian  Canidia  has  breathed  ;  while  they  are  stewing 
he  may,  if  he  be  a  poet,  rival  those  sonnets  made  in  Don  Quixote 
on  Sancho's  ass,  saddle-bags,  and  sapient  attention  to  their  pro- 
vend,  "  su  cuerda  providencia"  The  odor  and  good  tidings  of 


182  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  arrival  of  unusual  delicacies  soon  spread  far  and  wide  in  the 
village,  and  generally  attract  the  Cum,  who  loves  to  hear 
something  new,  and  does  not  dislike  savory  food :  the  quality  of 
a  Spaniard's  temperance,  like  that  of  his  mercy,  is  strained  ;  his 
poverty  and  not  his  will  consents  to  more  and  other  fastings 
than  to  those  enjoined  by  the  church  ;  hunger,  the  sauce  of  Saint 
Bernard,  is  one  of  the  few  wants  which  is  not  experienced  in  a 
Spanish  venta.  Our  practice  in  one  was  to  invite  the  curate,  by 
begging  him  to  bless  the  pot-luck,  to  which  he  did  ample  justice, 
and  more  than  repaid  for  its  visible  diminution  by  good  fellow- 
ship, local  information,  and  the  credit  reflected  on  the  stranger 
in  the  eyes  of  the  natives,  by  beholding  him  thus  patronized  by 
their  pastor  and  master.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  in  the  case  of  a 
stew  of  partridges,  that  deep  sighs  and  exclamations  que  rico ! 
"  how  rich  !"  escape  the  envious  lips  of  his  hungry  flock  when 
they  behold  and  whifFthe  odoriferous  dish  as  it  smokes  past  them 
like  a  railway  locomotive. 

Nor,  it  must  be  said,  was  all  this  hospitality  on  one  side ;  it 
has  more  than  once  befallen  us  in  the  rude  ventas  of  the  Sala- 
manca district,  that  the  silver  haired  cura,  whose  living  barely 
furnished  the  means  whereby  to  live,  on  hearing  the  simple  fact 
that  an  Englishman  was  arrived,  has  come  down  to  offer  his 
house  and  fare.  Such,  or  indeed  any  Spaniard's  invitation  is  not 
to  be  accepted  by  those  who  value  liberty  of  action  or  time ;  seat 
rather  the  good  man  at  the  head  of  the  venta  board,  and  regale 
him  with  your  best  cigar,  he  will  tell  you  of  El  gran  Lor — the 
great  Lord — the  Cid  of  England  ;  he  will  recount  the  Duke's 
victories,  and  dwell  on  the  good  faith,  mercy,  and  justice  of  our 
brave  soldiers,  as  he  will  execrate  the  cruelty,  rapacity,  and  per- 
fidy of  those  who  fled  before  their  gleaming  bayonets. 

But,  to  return  to  first  arrival  at  ventas,  whether  saddle-bag 
or  stomach  be  empty  of  full,  the  ventero  when  you  enter  remains 
unmoved  and  imperturbable,  as  if  he  never  had  had  an  appetite, 
or  had  lost  it,  or  had  dined.  Not  that  his  genus  ever  are  seen 
eating  except  when  invited  to  a  guest's  stew  ;  air,  the  economical 
ration  of  the  chameleon,  seems  to  be  his  habitual  sustenance,  and 
still  more  as  to  his  wife  and  womankind,  who  never  will  sit  and 
eat  even  with  the  stranger  j  nay,  in  humbler  Spanish  families 


VENTA  EATING.  183 


they  seem  to  dine  with  the  cat  in  some  corner,  and  on  scraps ; 
this  is  a  remnant  of  the  Roman  and  Moorish  treatment  of  women 
as  inferiors.  Their  lord  and  husband,  the  innkeeper,  cannot  con- 
ceive why  foreigners  on  their  arrival  are  always  so  impatient, 
and  is  equally  surprised  at  their  inordinate  appetite  ;  an  English 
landlord's  first  question,  "  Will  you  not  like  to  take  some  re- 
freshment ?"  is  the  very  last  which  he  would  think  of  putting ; 
sometimes  by  giving  him  a  cigar,  by  coaxing  his  wife,  flatter- 
ing his  daughter,  and  caressing  Maritornes,  you  may  get  a  cou- 
ple of  his  polios  or  fowls,  which  run  about  the  ground-floor, 
picking  up  anything,  and  ready  to  be  picked  up  themselves  and 
dressed. 

All  the  operations  of  cookery  and  eating,  of  killing,  sousing 
in  boiling  water,  plucking,  et  csetera,  all  preparatory  as  well  as 
final,  go  on  in  this  open  kitchen.  They  are  carried  out  by  the 
ventera  and  her  daughters  or  maids,  or  by  some  crabbed,  smoke- 
dried,  shrivelled  old  she-cat,  that  is,  or  at  least  is  called,  the  "  tia" 
"my  aunt,"  and  who  is  the  subject  of  the  good-humored  remarks 
of  the  courteous  and  hungry  traveller  before  dinner,  and  of  his 
full  stomach  jests  afterwards.  The  assembled  parties  crowd 
round  the  fire,  watching  and  assisting  each  at  their  own  savory 
messes,  "  Un  ojo  a  la  sarten,  y  otro  a  la  gata" — "One  eye  to  the 
pan,  the  other  to  the  real  cat,"  whose  very  existence  in  a  venta, 
and  among  the  pots,  is  a  miracle  ;  by  the  way,  the  naturalist  will 
observe  that  their  ears  and  tails  are  almost  always  cropped  closely 
to  the  stumps.  All  and  each  of  the  travellers,  when  their  respec- 
tive stews  are  ready,  form  clusters  and  groups  round  the  frying- 
pan,  which  is  moved  from  the  fire  hot  and  smoking,  and  placed  on 
a  low  table  or  block  of  wood  before  them,  or  the  unctuous  con- 
tents are  emptied  into  a  huge  earthen  reddish  dish,  which  in  form 
and  color  is  the  precise  paropsis,  ,the  food  platter,  described  by 
Martial  and  by  other  ancient  authors.  Chairs  are  a  luxury  ;  the 
lower  classes  sit  on  the  ground  as  in  the  East,  or  on  low  stools, 
and  fall  to  in  a  most  Oriental  manner,  with  an  un-European  ig- 
norance of  forks;*  for  which  they  substitute  a  short  wooden  or 

*  Forks  are  an  Italian  invention ;  old  Coiyate,  who  introduced  this 
"neatnesse'7  into  Somersetshire,  about  1600,  was  called  furcifer  by  his 


184  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


horn  spoon,  or  dip  their  bread  into  the  dish,  or  fish  up  morsels 
with  their  long  pointed  knives.  They  eat  copiously,  but  with 
gravity — with  appetite,  but  without  greediness ;  for  none  of  any 
nation,  as  a  mass,  are  better  bred  or  mannered  than  the  lower 
classes  of  Spaniards. 

They  are  very  pressing  in  their  invitations  whenever  any  eat- 
ing is  going  on.  No  Spaniard  or  Spaniards,  however  humble 
their  class  or  fare,  ever  allow  any  one  to  corne  near  or  pass  them 
when  eating,  without  inviting  him  to  partake.  "  Guste  usted 
coiner?"  "  Will  your  grace  be  pleased  to  dine  ?"  No  traveller 
should  ever  omit  to  go  through  this  courtesy  whenever  any 
Spaniards,  high  or  low,  approach  him  when  at  any  meal,  espe- 
cially if  taking  it  out  of  doors,  which  often  happens  in  these 
journeyings  ;  nor  is  it .  altogether  an  empty  form  ;  all  classes 
consider  it  a  compliment  if  a  stranger,  and  especially  an  English- 
man, will  condescend  to  share  their  dinner.  In  the  smaller 
towns,  those  invited  by  English  will  often  partake,  even  the 
better  classes,  and  who  have  already  dined  ;  they  think  it  civil  to 
accept,  and  rude  to  refuse  the  invitation,  and  have  no  objection  to 
eating  any  given  good  thing,  which  is  the  exception  to  their  ordi- 
nary frugal  habits:  all  this  is  quite  Arabian.  The  Spaniards 
seldom  accept  the  invitation  at  once ;  they  expect  to  be  urged  by 
an  obsequious  host,  in  order  to  appear  to  do  a  gentle  violence  to 
their  stomachs  by  eating  to  oblige  him.  The  angels  declined 
Lot's  offered  hospitalities  until  they  were  "  pressed  greatly." 
Travellers  in  Spain  must  not  forget  this  still  existing  Oriental 
trait ;  for  if  they  do  not  greatly  press  their  offer,  they  are  under- 
stood as  meaning  it  to  be  a  mere  empty  compliment.  We  have 
known  Spaniards  who  have  called  with  an  intention  of  staying 
dinner,  go  away,  because  this  ceremony  was  not  gone  through  ac- 
cording to  their  punctilious  notions,  to  which  our  off-hand  man- 
ners are  diametrically  opposed.  Hospitality  in  a  hungry,  inn-less 
land  becomes,  as  in  the  East,  a  sacred  duty  ;  if  a  man  eats  all 

friends.  Alexander  Barclay  thus  describes  the  previous  English  mode  of 
eating,  which  sounds  very  ventaish^  although  worse  mannered  : — 

"  If  the  dishe  be  pleasaunt,  eyther  flesche  or  fische. 
Ten  hands  at  once  swarm  in  the  dishe." 


AN  EVENING  AT   A   VENTA.  185 

the  provender  by  himself,  he  cannot  expect  to  have  many  friends. 
Generally  speaking,  the  offer  is  not  accepted  :  it  is  always  de- 
clined with  the  same  courtesy  which  prompts  the  invitation. 
"  Muchas  gracias,  buen  provecho  le  haga  a  usted"  "  Many  thanks 
— much  good  may  it  do  your  grace,"  an  answer  which  is  analo- 
gous to  the  prosit  of  Italian  peasants  after  eating  or  sneezing. 
These  customs,  both  of  inviting  and  declining,  tally  exactly,  and 
even  to  the  expressions  used  among  the  Arabs  to  this  day. 
Every  passer-by  is  invited  by  Orientals — "Bismillah  ya  seedee" 
which  means  both  a  grace  and  invitation — "  In  the  name  of  God, 
sir,  (i.  e.)  will  you  dine  with  us?"  or  " Tafud' -dal,"  "Do  me 
the  favor  to  partake  of  this  repast."  Those  who  decline  reply, 
"Henee  an,"  "  May  it  benefit." 

Supper,  which,  as  with  the  ancients,  is  their  principal  meal,  is 
seasoned  with  copious  draughts  of  the  wine  of  the  country,  drunk 
out  of  a  jug  or  bota  which  we  have  already  described,  for  glasses 
do  not  abound  ;  after  it  is  done,  cigars  are  lighted,  the  rude  seats 
are  drawn  closer  to  the  fire,  stories  are  told,  principally  on  robber 
or  love  events,  the  latter  of  which  are  by  far  the  truest.  Jokes 
are  given  and  taken  ;  laughter,  inextinguishable  as  that  of  Homer's 
gods,  forms  the  chorus  of  conversation,  especially  after  good' eat- 
ing or  drinking,  to  which  it  is  the  best  dessert.  In  due  time  songs 
are  sung,  a  guitar  is  strummed,  for  some  black-whiskered  Figaro 
is  sure  to  have  heard  of  the  "  arrival,"  and  steals  down  from  the 
pure  love  of  harmony  and  charms  of  a  cigar  ;  then  flock  in 
peasants  of  both  sexes,  dancing  is  set  on  foot,  the  fatigues  of  the 
day  are  forgotten,  and  the  catching  sympathy  of  mirth  extending 
to  all,  is  prolonged  until  far  into  the  night ;  during  which,  as  they 
take  a  long  siesta  in  the  day,  all  are  as  wakeful  as  owls,  and 
worse  cauterwaulers  than  cats  ;  to  describe  the  scene  baffles  the 
art  of  pen  or  pencil.  The  roars,  the  dust,  the  want  of  every- 
thing in  these  low-classed  ventas,  are  emblems  of  the  nothingness 
of  Spanish  life — a  jest.  One  by  one  the  company  drops  off;  the 
better  classes  go  up  stairs,  the  humbler  and  vast  majority  make 
up  their  bed  on  the  ground,  near  their  animals,  and  like  them,  full 
of  food  and  free  from  care,  fall  instantly  asleep  in  spite  of  the 
noise  and  discomfort  by  which  they  are  surrounded.  This  coun- 
terfeit of  death  is  more  equalizing,  as  Don  Quixote  says,  than 


186  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

death  itself,  for  an  honest  Spanish  muleteer  stretched  on  his  hard 
pallet  sleeps  sounder  than  many  an  uneasy  trickster  head  that 
wears  another's  crown.  "  Sleep,"  says  Sancho,  "  covers  one  over 
like  a  cloak,"  and  a  cloak  or  its  cognate  mantle  forms  the  best 
part  of  their  wardrobe  by  day,  and  their  bed  furniture  by  night. 
The  earth  is  now,  as  it  was  to  the  Iberians,  the  national  bed  ; 
nay,  the  Spanish  word  which  expresses  that  commodity,  cama,  is 
derived  from  the  Greek  xof^a*.  Thus  they  are  lodged  on  the 
ground  floor,  and  thereby  escape  the  three  classes  of  little  animals 
which,  like  the  inseparable  Graces,  are  always  to  be  found  in 
fine  climates  in  the  wholesale,  and  in  Spanish  ventas  in  the  retail. 
Their  pillow  is  composed  either  of  their  pack-saddles  or  saddle- 
bags j  their  sleep  is  short,  but  profound.  Long  before  daylight 
all  are  in  motion ;  "  they  take  up  their  bed,"  the  animals  are  fed, 
harnessed,  and  laden,  and  the  heaviest  sleepers  awakened :  there 
is  little  morning  toilette,  no  time  or  soap  is  lost  by  biped  or  quad- 
ruped in  the  processes  of  grooming  or  lavation :  both  carry  their 
wardrobes  on  their  back,  and  trust  to  the  showers  and  the  sun  to 
cleanse  and  bleach  ;  their  moderate  accounts  are  paid,  salutations 
or  execrations  (generally  the  latter),  according  to  the  length  of 
the  bills,  pass  between  them  and  their  landlords,  and  another  day 
of  toil  begins.  Our  faithful  and  trustworthy  squire  seldom  failed 
for  a  couple  of  hours  after  leaving  the  venta  to  pour  forth  an  elo- 
quent stream  of  oaths,  invectives,  and  lamentations  at  the  dearness 
of  inns,  the  rascality  of  their  keepers,  in  general,  and  of  the  host 
of  the  preceding  night  in  particular,  although  probably  a  couple 
of  dollars  had  cleared  the  account  for  a  couple  of  men  and  ani- 
mals, and  he  himself  had  divided  the  extra-extortion  with  the 
honest  ventero. 

These  Spanish  venta  scenes  vary  every  day  and  night,  as  a  'new 
set  of  actors  make  their  first  and  last  appearance  before  the  tra- 
veller ;  of  one  thing  there  can  be  no  mistake,  he  has  got  out  of 
England,  and  the  present  year  of  our  Lord.  Their  undeniable 
smack  of  antiquity  gives  them  a  relish,  a  borracha,  which  is  un- 
known in  Great  Britain,  where  all  is  fused  and  modernized  down 
to  last  Saturday  night :  here  alone  can  you  see  and  study  those 
manners  and  events  which  must  have  occurred  on  the  same  sites 
when  Hannibal  and  Scipio  were  last  there,  as  it  would  be  very 


THE   VENTORILLO.  187 


easy  to  work  out  from  the  classical  authors.  We  would  just  sug- 
gest a  comparison  between  the  arrangement  of  the  Spanish  coun- 
try venta  with  that  of  the  Roman  inn  now  uncovered  at  the  en- 
trance of  Pompeii,  and  its  exact  counterpart,  the  modern  "  os- 
tena"  in  the  same  district  of  Naples.  In  the  Museo  Borbcnico 
will  be  found  types  of  most  of  the  utensils  now  used  in  Spain, 
while  the  Oriental  and  most  ancient  style  of  cuisine  is  equally 
easy  to  be  identified  with  the  notices  left  us  in  the  cookery  books 
of  antiquity.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  tambourines,  cas- 
tanets, songs,  and  dances, — in  a  word,  of  everything  ;  and,  in- 
deed, when  all  are  hushed  in  sleep,  and  stretched  like  corpses 
amid  their  beasts,  the  Valencians  especially,  in  their  sandals  and 
kilts,  in  their  mantas,  and  in  and  on  their  rush-baskets  and  mat- 
tings, we  feel  that  Strabo  must  have  beheld  the  old  Iberians  ex- 
actly in  the  same  costume  and  position,  when  he  told  us  what  we 
see  now  to  be  true,  TO  n^eov  ev  aayotc,  sv  61$  nig  %ai  onfiadoxoi- 

TOf  (Jt. 

The  "  ventorillo"  is  a  lower  class  of  venta — for  there  is  a  deeper 
bathos ;  it  is  the  German  kneipe  or  hedge  ale-house,  and  is  often 
nothing  more  than  a  mere  hut,  run  up  with  reeds  or  branches  of 
trees  by  the  road-side,  at  which  water,  bad  wine,  and  brandy, 
"  aguardiente,"  tooth  water,  are  to  be  sold.  The  latter  is  always 
detestable,  raw,  and  disflavored  with  anniseed,  and  turns  white  in 
water  like  Eau  de  Cologne,  not  that  the  natives  ever  expose  it  to 
such  a  trial.  These  "  ventorillos"  are  at  best  suspicious  places, 
and  the  haunts  of  the  spies  of  regular  robbers,  or  of  skulking 
footpads  when  there  are  any.  who  lurk  inside  with  the  proprietress  ; 
she  herself  generally  might  sit  as  a  model  for  Hecate,  or  for  one 
of  the  witches  in  Shakspeare  over  their  cauldron  ;  her  attendant 
imps  are,  however,  sufficiently  interesting  personages  to  form  a 
chapter  by  themselves. 


88  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Spanish  Robbers — A  Robber  Adventure — Guardias  Civiles — Exaggerated 
Accounts — Cross  of  the  Murdered — Idle  Robber  Tales — French  Ban 
dittiphobia — Robber  History — Guerrilleros — Smugglers — Jose  Maria- 
Robbers  of  the  First  Class — The  Ratero — Miguelites — Escorts  and  Es- 
copeteros — Passes;  Protections,  and  Talismans — Execution  of  a  Robber. 

AN  olla  without  bacon  would  scarcely  be  less  insipid  than  a 
volume  on  Spain  without  banditti ;  the  stimulant  is  not  less  neces- 
sary for  the  established  taste  of  the  home-market,  than  brandy  is 
for  pale  sherries  neat  as  imported.  In  the  mean  time,  while  the 
timid  hesitate  to  put  their  heads  into  this  supposed  den  of  thieves 
as  much  as  into  a  house  that  is  haunted,  those  who  are  riot  scared 
by  shadows,  and  do  not  share  in  the  fears  of  cockney  critics  and 
delicate  writers  in  satin-paper  albums,  but  adventure  boldly  into 
the  hornet's  nest,  come  back  in  a  firm  belief  of  the  non-existence 
of  the  robber  genus.  In  Spain,  that  pays  de  Vimprtvu,  this  unex- 
pected absence  of  personages  who  render  roads  uncomfortable,  is 
one  of  the  many  and  not  disagreeable  surprises,  which  await  those 
who  prefer  to  judge  of  a  country  by  going  there  themselves,  rather 
than  to  put  implicit  faith  in  the  foregone  conclusions  and  stereo- 
typed prejudices  of  those  who  have  not,  although  they  do  sit  in 
judgment  on  those  who  have,  and  decide  "  without  a  view."  T'lis 
very  summer,  some  dozen  and  more  friends  of  ours  have  made 
tours  in  various  parts  of  the  Peninsula,  driving  and  riding  un- 
armed and  unescorted  through  localities  of  former  suspicion,  with- 
out having  the  good  luck  of  meeting  even  with  the  ghost  of  a  de- 
parted robber;  in  truth  and  fact,  we  cannot  but  remember  that 
such  things  as  monks  and  banditti  were,  although  they  must  be 
spoken  of  rather  in  the  past  than  in  the  present  tense. 

The  actual  security  of  the  Spanish  highways  is  due  to  the 
Moderados,  as  the  French  party  and  imitators  of  the  juste  milieu 
are  called,  and  at  the  head  of  whom  may  be  placed  Senor  Marti- 


A   ROBBER  ADVENTURE.  139 

nez  de  la  Rosa.  He,  indeed,  is  a  moderate  in  poetry  as  well  as 
politics,  and  a  rare  specimen  of  that  sublime  of  mediocrity  which, 
according  to  Horace,  neither  men,  gods,  nor  booksellers  can  tole- 
rate ]  his  reputation  as  an  author  and  statesman — alas  !  poor  Cer- 
vantes and  Cisneros — proves  too  truly  the  present  effeteness  of 
Spain.  Her  pen  and  her  sword  are  blunted,  her  laurels  are  sear, 
and  her  womb  is  barren ;  but  among  the  blind,  he  who  has  one 
eye  is  king. 

This  dramatist,  in  the  May  of  1833,  was  summoned  from  his 
exile  at  Granada  to  Madrid  by  the  suspicious  Calomarde.  The 
mail  in  which  he  travelled  was  stopped  by  robbers,  about  ten 
o'clock  of  a  wet  night  near  Almuradiel  ; — the  guard,  at  the  first 
notice,  throwing  himself  on  his  belly,  with  his  face  in  the  mud, 
in  imitation  of  the  postilions,  who  pay  great  respect  to  the  gentle- 
men of  the  road.  The  passengers  consisted  of  himself,  a  Ger- 
man artist,  and  an  English  friend  of  ours  now  in  London,  and  who, 
having  given  up  his  well-garnished  purse  at  once  with  great 
good-humor,  was  most  courteously  treated  by  the  well-satisfied 
recipients  ;  not  so  the  Deutscher,  on  whom  they  were  about  to  do 
personal  violence  in  revenge  for  a  scanty  scrip,  had  not  his  pro- 
fession  been  explained  by  our  friend,  by  whose  interference  ho 
was  let  off.  Meanwhile,  the  Don  was  hiding  his  watch  in  the  car 
riage  lining,  which  he  cut  open,  and  was  concealing  his  few  dol  - 
lars,  the  existence  of  which  when  questioned  he  stoutly  denied 
They,  however,  re-appeared  under  threats  of  the  bastinado,  which 
were  all  but  inflicted.  The  passengers  were  then  permitted  to 
depart  in  peace,  the  leader  of  their  spoilers  having  first  shaken 
hands  with  our  informant,  and  wished  him  a  pleasant  journey  *~ 
"May  your  grace  go  with  God  and  without  novelty ;"  adding, 
"  You  are  a  caballero,  a  gentleman,  as  all  the  English  are  ;  the 
German  is  a  pobrecito,  a  poor  devil ;  the  Spaniard  is  an  embustero, 
a  regular  swindler.37  This  latter  gentleman,  thus  hardly  de- 
lineated by  his  Lavater  countryman,,  has  since  more  than  got- 
ten back  his  cash,  having  risen  to  be  prime  minister  to  Chris- 
tina, and  humble  and  devoted  servant  of  Louis-Philippe,  cosas  de 
Espana. 

Possibly  this  little  incident' may  have  facilitated  the  introduction 
of  mounted  guards,  who  are  now  stationed  in  towns,  and  by  whom 


190  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  roads  are  regularly  patrolled  ;  they  are  called  guardias  civiles, 
and  have  replaced  the  ancient  "brotherhood"  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  As  they  have  been  dressed  and  modelled  after  the  fash- 
ion of  the  transpyrenean  gendarmerie,  the  Spaniards,  who  never 
lose  a  chance  of  a  happy  nickname,  or  of  a  fling  at  the  things  of 
their  neighbor,  whom  they  do  not  love,  term  them,  either  Polizon- 
tes  or  Polizones,  words  with  which  they  have  enriched  their  phra- 
seology, and  that  represent  the  French  polissons,  scoundrels,  or 
they  call  them  Hijos  de  Luis-Philipe,  "  sons  of  Louis-Philippe  ;" 
for  they  are  ill-bred  enough,  in  spite  of  the  Montpensier  marriage, 
and  the  Nelsonic  achievements  of  Monsieur  de  Joinville,  to  con- 
sider the  words  as  synonymes. 

The  number  of  these  rogues,  French  king's  sons,  civil  guards, 
call  them  as  you  will,  exceeds  five  thousand.  During  the  recent 
Machiavelianisms  of  their  putative  father,  they  have  been  quite 
as  much  employed  in  the  towns  as  on  the  highway,  and  for  politi- 
cal purposes  rather  than  those  of  pure  police,  having  been  used  to 
keep  down  the  expression  of  indignant  public  opinion,  and  instead 
of  catching  thieves,  in  upholding  those  first-rate  criminals,  foreign 
and  domestic,  who  are  now  robbing  poor  Spain  of  her  gold  and 
liberties  ;  but  so  it  has  always  been.  Indeed,  when  we  first  ar- 
rived in  the  Peninsula,  and  naturally  made  enquiries  about  ban- 
ditti, according  to  all  sensible  Spaniards,  it  was  not  on  the  road 
that  they  were  most  likely  to  be  found,  but  in  the  confessional 
boxes,  the  lawyers'  offices,  and  still  more  in  the  bureaux  of  gov-. 
ernment ;  and  even  in  England  some  think  that  purses  are  ex- 
posed to  more  danger  in  Chancery  Lane  and  Stone  Buildings, 
than  in  the  worst  cross-road,  or  the  most  rocky  mountain  pass  in 
the  Peninsula. 

It  will  be  long,  however,  before  this  "  great  fact "  is  believed 
within  the  sound  of  Bow-bells,  where  many  of  those  who  provide 
the  reading  public  with  correct  information,  dislike  having  to  eat 
their  own  words,  and  to  have  their  settled  opinions  shaken  or  con- 
tradicted. Nor  is  it  pleasant  at  a  certain  time  of  life  to  go  again 
to  school,  as  one  does  when  studying  Niebuhr's  Roman  History, 
and  then  to  find  that  the  alphabet  must  be  re-begun,  since  all  that 
was  thought  to  be  right  is  in  fact  wrong.  Distant  Spain  is  ever 
looked  at  through  a  telescope  which  either  magnifies  richness  and 


THE  MURDERED   MAN'S   CROSS.  191 

goodness,  from  which  half  at  least  must  be  deducted  according  to 
the  proverb,  de  los  diner os  y  bondad,  se  ha  de  guitar  la  mitad,  or 
darkens  its  dangers  and  difficulties  through  a  discolored  medium. 
A  bad  name  given  to  a  dog  or  country  is  very  adhesive ;  and  the 
many  will  repeat  each  other  in  cuckoo-note.  "  II  y  a  des  choses," 
says  Montesquieu,  "  que  tout  le  monde  dit,  parcequ'elles  ont  ete 
dites  une  fois ;"  thus  one  silly  sheep  makes  many,  who  will  fol- 
low their  leader  ;  ovejas  y  bobas,  donde  va  una,  van  todas.  So  in 
the  end  error  becomes  stamped  with  current  authority,  and  is  re- 
ceived, until  the  false,  imaginary  picture  is  alone  esteemed,  and 
the  true,  original  portrait  scouted  as  a  cheat. 

It  has  so  long  and  annually  been  considered  permissible,  when 
writing  about  romantic  Spain,  to  take  leave  of  common  sense, 
to  ascend  on  stilts,  and  converse  in  the  Cambyses  vein,  that  thosf 
who  descend  to  humble  prose,  and  confine  themselves  to  com- 
monplace matter-of-fact,  are  considered  not  only  to  be  insesthetic, 
unpoetical,  and  unimaginative,  but  deficient  in  truth  and  power 
of  observation.  The  genius  of  the  land,  when  speaking  of  itself 
and  its  things,  is  prone  to  say  the  thing  which  is  not ;  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  locality  lends  itself  often  and  readily 
to  misconceptions.  The  leagues  and  leagues  of  lonely  hills  and 
wastes,  over  which  beasts  of  prey  roam,  and  above  which  vul- 
tures sulkily  rising  part  the  light  air  with  heavy  wing,  are  easily 
peopled,  by  those  who  are  in  a  prepared  train  of  mind,  with 
equally  rapacious  bipeds  of  Plato's  unfeathered  species.  Rocky 
passes,  contrived  as  it  were  on  purpose  for  ambuscades,  tangled 
.glens  overrun  with  underwood,  in  spite  of  the  prodigality  of 
beauty  which  arrests  the  artist,  suggest  the  lair  of  snakes  and 
robbers.  Nor  is  the  feeling  diminished  by  meeting  the  frequent 
crosses  set  up  on  classically  piled  heaps,  which  mark  the  grave 
of  some  murdered  man,  whose  simple,  touching  epitaph  tells  the 
name  of  the  departed,  the  date  of  the  treacherous  stab,  and  en- 
treats the  passenger,  who  is  as  he  was,  and  may  be  in  an  instant 
as  he  is,  to  pray  for  his  unannealed  soul.  A  shadow  of  death 
hovers  over  such  spots,  and  throws  the  stranger  on  his  own 
thoughts,  which,  from  early  associations,  are  somewhat  in  unison 
with  the  scene.  Nor  is  the  welcome  of  the  outstretched  arms  of 
these  crosses  over-hearty,  albeit  they  are  sometimes  hung  with 


192  THE   SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

flowers,  which  mock  the  dead.  Nor  are  all  sermons  more  elo- 
quent than  these  silent  stones,  on  which  such  brief  emblems  are 
fixed.  The  Spaniards,  from  long  habit,  are  less  affected  by 
them  than  foreigners,  being  all  accustomed  to  behold  crosses  and 
bleeding  crucifixes  in  churches  and  out ;  they  moreover  well 
know  that  by  far  the  greater  proportion  of  these  memorials  have 
been  raised  to  record  murders,  which  have  not  been  perpetrated  by 
robbers,  but  are  the  results  of  sudden  quarrel  or  of  long  brooded- 
over  revenge,  and  that  wine  and  women,  nine  times  out  of  ten, 
are  at  the  bottom  of  the  calamity.  Nevertheless,  it  makes  a 
stout  English  heart  uncomfortable,  although  it  is  of  little  use  to 
be  afraid  when  one  is  in  for  it,  and  on  the  spot.  Then  there  is 
no  better  chance  of  escape,  than  to  brave  the  peril  and  to  ride 
on.  Turn,  therefore,  dear  reader,  a  deaf  ear  to  the  tales  of  lo- 
cal terror  which  will  be  told  in  every  out-of-the-way  village 
by  the  credulous,  timid  inhabitants.  You,  as  we  have  often 
been,  will  be  congratulated  on  having  passed  such  and  such  a 
wood,  and  will  be  assured  that  you  will  infallibly  be  robbed  at 
such  and  such  a  spot  a  few  leagues  onward.  We  have  always 
found  that  this  ignis  fatuus,  like  the  horizon,  has  receded  as  we 
advanced  ;  the  dangerous  spot  is  either  a  little  behind  or  a  little 
before  the  actual  place- — it  vanishes,  as  most  difficulties  do,  when 
boldly  approached  and  grappled  with. 

At  the  same  time  these  sorts  of  places  and  events  admit  of 
much  fine  writing  when  people  get  safely  back  again,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  dignity  and  heroic  elevation  which  may  be  thus 
obtained  by  such  an  exhibition  of  valor  during  the  long  vaca- 
tion. Peaked  hats,  hair-breadth  escapes  from  long  knives  and 
mustachios,  lying  down  for  an  hour  on  your  stomach  with  your 
mouth  in  the  mud.  are  little  interludes  so  diametrically  opposed 
to  civilization,  and  the  humdrum,  unpicturesque  routine  of  free 
Britons  who  pay  way  and  police  rates,  that  they  form  almost  ir- 
resistible topics  to  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer.  And  such  exciting 
incidents  are  sure  to  take,  and  to  affect  the  public  at  home,  who, 
moreover,  are  much  pleased  by  the  perusal  of  authentic  accounts 
from  Spain  itself,  and  the  best  and  latest  intelligence,  which  tally 
with  their  own  preconceived  ideas  of  the  land.  Hence  those  au- 
thors are  the  most  popular  who  put  the  self-love  of  their  reader 


BANDITTIPHOB1A   OF    FRENCH  TOURibTS.  193 

in  best  humor  with  his  own  stock  of  knowledge.  And  this  ac-  f 
counts  for  the  frequency,  in  Peninsular  sketches,  personal  narra- 
tives, and  so  forth,  of  robberies  which  are  certainly  oftener  to  be 
met  with  in  their  pages  than  on  the  plains  of  the  Peninsula.  The 
writers  know  that  a  bandit  adventure  is  as  much  expected  in  the 
journals  of  such  travels  as  in  one  of  Mrs.  RatclifFe's  romances ; 
such  fleeting  books  are  chiefly  made  by  "  striking  events  /"  ac- 
cordingly, the  authors  string  together  all  the  floating  traditional 
horrors  which  they  can  scrape  together  on  Spanish  roads,  and 
thus  feed  and  keep  up  the  notion  entertained  in  many  counties  in 
England,  that  the  whole  Peninsula  is  peopled  with  banditti.  If 
such  were  the  case  society  could  not  exist,  and  the  very  fact,  of 
almost  all  the  reporters  having  themselves  escaped  by  a  miracle, 
might  lead  to  the  inference  that  most  other  persons  escape  like- 
wise :  a  blot  is  not  a  blot  till  it  is  hit. 

Our  ingenious  neighbors,  strange  to  say  in  SQ  gallant  a  people, 
have  a  still  more  decided  bandittiphobia.  According  to  what  the 
badauds  of  Paris  are  told  in  print,  every  rash  individual,  before 
he  takes  his  place  in  the  dilly  for  Spain,  ought  by  all  means  to 
make  his  will,  as  was  done  four  hundred  years  ago  at  starting  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem ;  possibly  this  may  be  predicated  in 
the  spirit  of  French  diplomacy,  which  always  has  a  concealed 
arriere  pensee,  and  it  may  be  bruited  abroad,  on  the  principle 
with  which  illicit  distillers  and  coin-forgers  give  out  that  certain 
localities  are  haunted,  in  order  to  scare  away  others,  and  thus 
preserve  for  themselves  a  quiet  possession.  Perhaps  the  supera- 
bundance of  1'esprit  Franqais  may  give  color  and  substance  to 
forms  insignificant  in  themselves,  as  a  painter  lost  in  a  brown 
study  over  a  coal  fire  converts  cinders  into  castles,  monsters,  and 
other  creatures  of  his  lively  imagination  ;  or  it  may  be,  as  con- 
science makes  cowards  of  all,  that  these  gentlemen  really  see  a 
bandit  in  every  bush  of  Spain,  and  expect  from  behind  every  rock 
an  avenging  minister  of  retaliation,  in  whose  pocket  is  a  list  of 
the  church  plate,  Murillos,  &c.  which  were  found  missing  after 
their  countrymen's  invasion.  Be  that  as  it  may,  even  so  clever 
a  man  as  Monsieur  Quinet,  a  real  Dr.  Syntax,  fills  pages  of  his 
recent  Vacances  with  his  continual  trepidations,  although,  from 
having  arrived  at  his  journey's  end  without  any  sort  of  accident, 

PART  TT.  10 


194  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

albeit  not  without  every  kind  of  fear,  it  might  have  crossed  him, 
that  the  bugbears  existed  only  in  his  own  head,  and  he  might  have 
concealed,  in  his  pleasant  pages,  a  frame  of  mind  the  exhibition 
of  which,  in  England  at  least,  inspires  neither  interest  nor  re- 
spect ;  an  over-care  of  self  is  not  over-heroic. 

It  must  be  also  admitted  that  the  respectability  and  character  of 
many  a  Spaniard  is  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  when  he  sets  forth 
on  any  of  his  travels,  except  in  a  public  wheel  conveyance ;  as 
we  said  in  our  ninth  chapter,  he  assumes  the  national  costume  of 
the  road,  and  leaves  his  wife  and  long-tailed  coat  behind  nirn. 
Now  as  most  Spaniards  are  muffled  up  and  clad  after  the  approved 
melodrame  fashion  of  robbers,  they  may  be  mistaken  for  them  in 
reality  ;  indeed  they  are  generally  sallow,  have  fierce  black  eyes, 
uncombed  hair,  and  on  these  occasions  neglect  the  daily  use  of 
towels  and  razors ;  a  long  beard  gives,  and  not  in  Spain  alone,  a 
ferocious  ruffian-like  look,  which  is  not  diminished  when  gun  and 
knife  are  added  to  match  faces  a  la  Brutus.  Again,  these  wor- 
thies thus  equipped,  have  sometimes  a  trick  of  staring  rather  fix- 
edly from  under  their  slouched  hat  at  the  passing  stranger,  whose, 
to  them,  outlandish  costume  excites  curiosity  and  suspicion  ;  nat- 
urally therefore  some  difficulty  does  exist  in  distinguishing  the  me- 
rino from  the  wolf,  when  both  are  disguised  in  the  same  clothing 
— a  zamarra  sheepskin  to  wit.  A  private  Spanish  gentleman, 
who,  in  his  native  town,  would  be  the  model  of  a  peaceable  and 
inoffensive  burgess,  or  a  respectable  haberdasher,  has,  when  on 
his  commercial  tour,  altogether  the  appearance  of  the  Bravo  of 
Venice,  and  such-like  heroes,  by  whom  children  are  frightened  at 
a  minor  theatre.  In  consequence  of  the  difficulty  of  outliving 
what  has  been  learnt  in  the  nursery,  many  of  our  countrymen 
have,  with  the  best  intentions,  set  down  the  bulk  of  the  population 
of  the  Peninsula  as  one  gang  of  robbers — they  have  exaggerated 
their  numbers  like  Falstaff's  men  of  buckram  ;  the  said  imagined 
Rinaldo  Rinaldinis  being  probably  in  a  still  greater  state  of  alarm 
from  having  on  their  part  taken  our  said  countrymen  for  robbers, 
and  this  mutual  misunderstanding  continues,  until  both  explain 
their  slight  mistake  of  each  other's  character  and  intention.  Al- 
though we  never  fell  into  the  error  of  thus  mistaking  Spanish 
oeaceable  traders  for  privateers  and  men-of-war,  yet  that  injustice 


IDLE  ROBBER  TALES.  193 

has  been  done  by  them  to  us  ;  possibly  this  compliment  may  have 
been  paid  to  our  careful  observation  of  the  bearing  and  garb  of 
their  great  Rob  Roy  himself  and  in  his  own  country,  which,  to 
one  about  to  undertake,  in  those  days,  long  and  solitary  rides  ovei 
the  Peninsula,  was  an  unspeakable  advantage. 

But  even  in  those  perilous  times,  robberies  were  the  exception, 
not  the  rule,  in  spite  of  the  full,  whole,  and  exact  particulars  of 
natives  as  well  as  strangers ;  the  accounts  were  equally  exag- 
gerated by  both  parties  ;  in  fact,  the  subject  is  the  standing  dish, 
the  common  topic  of  the  lower  classes  of  travellers,  when  talking 
and  smoking  round  the  venta  fires,  and  forms  the  natural  and 
agreeable  religio  loci,  the  associations  connected  with  wild  and 
cut-throat  localities.  Though  these  narrators'  pleasure  is  mingled 
with  fear  and  pain,  they  delight  in  such  histories  as  children  do 
in  goblin  tales.  Their  Oriental  amplification  is  inferior  only  to 
their  credulity,  its  twin  sister,  and  they  end  in  believing  their  own 
lies.  Whenever  a  robbery  really  does  take  place,  the  report 
spreads  far  and  wide,  and  gains  in  detail  and  atrocity,  for  no  mule- 
teer's story  or  sailor's  yarn  loses  in  the  telling.  The  same  dire 
event, — names,  dates,  and  localities  only  varied, — is  served  up,  as  a 
monkish  miracle  in  the  mediaeval  ages  was,  at  many  other  places, 
and  thus  becomes  infinitely  multiplied.  It  is  talked  of  for  months 
all  over  the  country,  while  the  thousands  of  daily  passengers 
who  journey  on  unhurt  are  never  mentioned.  It  is  like  the  lot- 
tery, in  which  the  great  prize  alone  attracts  attention,  not  the 
infinite  majority  of  blanks.  These  robber-tales  reach  the  cities, 
and  are  often  believed  by  most  respectable  people,  who  pass  their 
lives  without  stirring  a  league  beyond  the  walls.  They  sympa- 
thize with  all  who  are  compelled  to  expose  themselves  to  the 
great  pains  and  perils,  the  travail  of  travel,  and  they  endeavor 
with  the  most  good-natured  intentions  to  dissuade  rash  adventurers 
from  facing  them,  by  stating  as  facts,  the  apprehensions  of  their 
own  credulity  and  imagination. 

The  muleteers,  venteros,  and  masses  of  common  Spaniards 
see  in  the  anxious  faces  of  timid  strangers,  that  their  audience  is 
in  the  listening  and  believing  vein,  and  as  they  are  garrulous  and 
egotists  by  nature,  they  seize  on  a  theme  in  which  they  alone  hold 
forth  ;  they  are  pleased  at  being  considered  an  authority,  and 


196  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

with  the  superiority  which  conveying  information  gives,  and  the 
power  of  inspiring  fear  confers  ;  their  mother- wit,  in  which  few 
nations  surpass  them,  soon  discovers  the  sort  of  information 
.which  "  our  correspondent"  is  in  want  of,  and  as  words  here  cost 
nothing,  the  gulping  gobemouche  is  plentifully  supplied  with 
the  required  article.  These  reports  are  in  due  time  set  up  in  type, 
and  are  believed  because  in  print ;  thus  the-  tricks  played  on  poor 
Mr.  Inglis  and  his  note-book  were  the  laughter  of  the  whole  Pen- 
insula, grave  authorities  caught  the  generous  infection,  until  Mr. 
Mark's  robber-jokes  at  Malaga  wera  booked  and  swallowed  as  if 
he  had  been  an  apostle  instead  of  a  consul. 

As  it  was  our  fate  to  have  wandered  up  and  down  the  Peninsula 
when  Ferdinand  VII.  was  King  of  the  Spains,  and  Jose  Maria, 
at  whose  name  old  men  and  women  there  tremble  yet,  was  auto- 
crat of  Andalucia,  the  moment  was  propitious  for  studying  the 
philosophy  of  Spanish  banditti,  and  our  speculations  were  much 
benefitted  by  a  fortunate  acquaintance  with  the  redoubtable  chief 
himself,  from  whom,  as  well  as  from  many  of  his  intelligent  fol- 
lowers, we  received  much  kindness  and  valuable  information, 
which  is  acknowledged  with  thankfulness. 

Historically  speaking,  Spain  has  never  enjoyed  a  good  cha- 
racter in  this  matter  of  the  highway  ;  it  had  but  an  indifferent 
reputation  in  the  days  of  antiquity,  but  then,  as  now,  it  was 
generally  the  accusation  of  foreigners.  The  Romans  who  had 
no  business  to  invade  it,  were  harassed  by  the  native  guerrilleros, 
those  undisciplined  bands  who  waged  the  "  little  war,"  which 
Iberia  always  did.  Worried  by  these  unmilitary  voltigeurs, 
they  called  all  Spaniards  who  resisted  them  "  latrones  ;"  just 
as  the  French  invaders,  from  the  same  reasons,  called  them  la 
drones  or  brigands,  because  they  had  no  uniform  •  as  if  the  wear- 
ing a  schako  given  by  a  plundering  marshal,  could  convert  a 
pillager  into  an  honest  man,  or  the  want  of  it  could  change  into  a 
thief,  a  noble  patriot  who  was  defending  his  own  property  and 
country  ;  but  1  habit  ne  fait  pas  le  moine,  say  the  French,  and 
aunque  la  mona  se  viste  de  seda,  mona  se  queda,  although  a  mon- 
key dresses  in  silk,  monkey  it  remains,  rejoin  the  Spaniards. 

Armed  men  are  in  fact  the  weed  of  the  soil  of  Spain,  in  peace 
or  war  ;  to  have  their  hand  against  all  mankind  seems  to  be  an 


GUERRILLEROS.  197 

instinct  in  every  descendant  of  Ishmael,  and  particularly  among 
this  Quixotic  branch,  whose  knight-errants,  reformers  on  horse- 
back, have  not  unfrequently  been  robbers  in  the  guise  of  gentle- 
men.  During  the  war  against  Buonaparte,  the  Peninsula 
swarmed  with  insurgents,  many  of  whom  were  inspired  by  a 
sense  of  loyalty,  with  indignation  at  their  outraged  religion,  and 
with  a  deep-rooted  national  loathing  of  the  gabacho,  and  good 
service  did  these  Minas  and  Co.  do  to  the  cause  of  their  lawful 
king ;  but  others  used  patriotic  professions  as  specious  cloaks  to 
cover  their  instinctive  passion  for  a  lawless  and  freebooting 
career,  and  before  the  liberation  of  the  country  was  effected,  had 
become  formidable  to  all  parties  alike.  The  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton with  his  characteristic  sagacity,  foresaw,  at  his  victorious  con- 
clusion of  the  struggle,  how  difficult  it  would  be  to  weed  out  "  this 
strange  fruit  borne  on  a  tree  grafted  by  patriotism."  The  transi- 
tion from  murdering  a  Frenchman,  to  plundering  a  stranger, 
appeared  a  simple  process  to  these  patriotic  scions,  whose  num- 
bers were  swelled  with  all  who  were,  or  who  considered  them- 
selves to  be,  ill  used — with  all  who  could  not  dig<,  and  were 
ashamed  to  beg.  The  evil  was  diminished  during  the  latter  year 
of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  VII. ,  when  the  old  hands  began  to  die 
off,  and  an  advance  in  social  improvement  was  unquestionably 
general,  before  which  these  lawless  occupations  gave  way,  as 
surely  as  wild  animals  of  prey  do  before  improved  cultivation. 
These  evils,  that  are  abated  by  internal  quiet  and  the  continued 
exertions  of  the  authorities,  increase  with  troubled  times,  which, 
as  the  tempest  calls  forth  the  stormy  petrel,  rouse  into  dangerous 
action  the  worst  portions  of  society,  and  create  a  sort  of  civil  ca- 
chexia,  as  we  now  see  in  Ireland. 

Another  source  was,  not  to  say  is,  Gibraltar,  that  hot-bed  of 
contraband,  that  nursery  of  the  smuggler,  the  prima  maleria  of  a 
robber  and  murderer.  The  financial  ignorance  of  the  Spanish 
government  calls  him  in,  to  correct  the  errors  of  Chancellors  of 
Exchequers: — "  trovata  la  legge,  trovato  Pinganno."  The  fiscal 
regulations  are  so  ingeniously  absurd,  complicated,  and  vexatious, 
that  the  honest,  legitimate  merchant  is  as  much  embarrassed  as 
the  irregular  trader  is  favored.  The  operation  of  excessive  du- 
ties on  objects  which  people  must,  and  therefore  will  have,  is  as 


198  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

strikingly  exemplified  in  the  case  of  tobacco  in  Andalucia,  as  it  is 
in  that,  and  many  other  articles  on  the  Kent  and  Sussex  coasts : 
in  both  countries  the  fiscal  scourge  leads  to  breaches  of  the  peace, 
injury  to  the  fair  dealer,  and  loss  to  the  revenue ;  it  renders  idle, 
predatory,  and  ferocious,  a  peasantry  which,  under  a  wiser  sys- 
tem, and  if  not  exposed  to  overpowering  temptation,  might  become 
virtuous  and  industrious.  In  Spain  the  evasjon  of  such  laws  is 
only  considered  as  cheating  those  who  cheat  the  people ;  the  vil- 
lagers are  heart  and  soul  in  favor  of  the  smuggler,  as  they  are  of 
the  poacher  in  England;  all  their  prejudices  are  on  his  side. 
Some  of  the  mountain  curates,  whose  flocks  are  all  in  that  line, 
deal  with  the  crime  in  their  sermons  as  a  conventional,  not  a  moral 
one ;  and,  like  other  people,  decorate  their  mantel-pieces  with  a 
painted  clay  figure  of  the  sinner  in  his  full  mojo  dress.  •  The 
smuggler  himself,  so  far  from  feeling  degraded,  enjoys  the  reputa- 
tion which  attends  success  in  personal  adventure,  among  a  people 
proud  of  individual  prowess  ;  he  is  the  hero  of  the  Spanish  stage, 
and  comes  on  equipped  in  full  costume,  with  his  blunderbuss,  to 
sing  the  well-known  "  Yo !  que  soy  contrabandista !  yo  ho  /"  to 
the  delight  of  all  listeners,  from  the  Straits  to  the  Bidasoa,  custom- 
house officers  not  excepted. 

The  prestige  of  such  a  theatrical  exhibition,  like  the  '  Robbers' 
of  Schiller,  is  enough  to  make  all  the  students  of  Salamanca  take 
to  the  high  road.  The  contrabandista  is  the  Turpin,  the  Macheath 
of  reality,  and  those  heroes  of  the  old  ballads  and  theatres  of  Eng- 
land, who  have  disappeared  more  in  consequence  of  enclosures, 
rapid  conveyances,  and  macadamization  (for  there  is  nothing  so 
hateful  to  a  highwayman  as  gas  and  a  turnpike),  than  from  fear 
of  the  prison  or  the  halter.  The  writings  of  Smollett,  the  recol- 
lections of  many  now  alive  of  the  dangers  of  Hounslow  Heath  and 
Finchley  Common,  recall  scenes  of  life  and  manners  from  which 
we  have  not  long  emerged,  and  which  have  still  more  recently 
been  corrected  in  Spain.  The  contrabandista  in  his  real  character 
is  welcome  in  every  village  ;  he  is  the  newspaper  and  channel  of 
intelligence ;  he  brings  tea  and  gossip  for  the  curate,  money  and 
cigars  for  the  attorney,  ribands  and  cottons  for  the  women  ;  he  is 
magnificently  dressed,  which  has  a  great  charm  for  all  Moro-Ibe- 
rian  eyes  ;  he  is  bold  and  resolute — "  none  but  the  brave  deserve 


FIRST-CLASS   BANDITS.  199 

the  fair;5'  a  good  rider  and  shot ;  he  knows  every  inch  of  the  in- 
tricate country,  wood  or  water,  hill  or  dale ;  in  a  word,  he  is  ad- 
mirably educated  for  the  high-road — for  what  Froissart,  speaking 
of  the  celebrated  Amerigot  Tetenoire,  calls  "  a  fay  re  and  godlie 
life."  A.nd  the  transition  from  plundering  the  king's  revenue  to 
taking  one  of  his  subjects'  purse  on  the  highway  is  easy. 

Many  circumstances  combined  to  make  this  freebooting  career 
popular  among  the  lower  classes.  The  delight  of  power,  the  ex- 
hibition of  daring  and  valor,  the  temptation  of  sudden  wealth, 
always  so  attractive  to  half-civilized  nations,  who  prefer  the  rich 
spoil  won  by  the  bravery  of  an  hour,  to  that  of  the  drudgery  of 
years  ;  the  gorgeous  apparel,  the  lavish  expenditure,  the  song,  the 
wassail,  the  smiles  of  the  fair,  and  all  the  joyous  life  of  liberty, 
freemasonry,  and  good  fellowship,  operated  with  irresistible  force 
on  a  warlike,  energetic,  and  imaginative  population. 

This  smuggling  was  the  origin  of  Jose  Maria's  career,  who 
rose  to  the  highest  rank  and  honors  of  his  profession,  as  did  Napo- 
leon le  Grand  and  "  Jonathan  Wild  the  Great,"  and  principally, 
as  Fielding  says  of  his  hero,  by  a  power  of  doing  mischief,  and  a 
principle  of  considering  honesty  to  be  a  corruption  of  honosty,  the 
qualities  of  an  ass  (ovog).  But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  there  always  are  men  fitted  to  be  captains  of  formidable 
gangs  ;  nature  is  chary  in  the  'production  of  such  specimens  of 
dangerous  grandeur,  and  as  ages  may  elapse  before  the  world  is 
cursed  with  another  Alaric,  Buonaparte,  or  Wild,  so  years  may 
pass  before  Spain  witnesses  again  another  Jose  Maria. 

The  Ladron  en  grande,  the  robber  on  a  great  scale,  is  the 
grandee  of  the  first  class  in  his  order  ;  he  is  the  captain  of  a 
regularly-organized  band  of  followers,  from  eight  to  fourteen  in 
number,  well  armed  and  mounted,  and  entirely  under  command 
and  discipline.  These  are  very  formidable  ;  and  as  they  seldom 
attack  any  travellers  except  with  overwhelming  forces,  and  under 
circumstances  of  ambuscade  and  surprise,  where  every  thing  is 
in  their  favor,  resistance  is  generally  useless,  and  can  only  lead 
to  fatal  accidents.  Never,  for  the  sake  of  a  sac  de  nuit,  risk 
being  sent  to  Erebus  ;  submit,  therefore,  at  once  and  with  good 
grace  to  the  summons,  which  will  take  no  denial,  of  "  abajo" 
down,  "  boca  a\  tierra"  mouth  to  the  earth.  Those  who  have  a 


200  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

score  or  so  of  dollars,  four  or  five  pounds,  the  loss  of  which  will 
ruin  no  man,  are  very  rarely  ill-used  ;  a  frank,  confident,  and 
good-humored  surrender  not  only  prevents  any  bad  treatment,  but 
secures  even  civility  during  the  disagreeable  operation  :  pistols 
and  sabres  are  after  all,  a  poor  defence  compared  to  civil  words, 
as  Mr.  Cribb  used  to  say.  The  Spaniard,  by  nature  high-bred 
and  a  "  caballero"  responds  to  any  appeal  to  qualities  of  which 
he  thinks  his  nation  has  reason  to  be  proud  ;  he  respects  coolness 
of  manner,  in  which  bold  men,  although  robbers,  sympathize. 
Why  should  a  man,  because  he  loses  a  few  dollars,  lose  also  his 
presence  of  mind  or  temper,  or  perhaps  life  ?  Nor  are  these  gran- 
dees of  the  system  without  a  certain  magnanimity,  as  Cervantes 
knew  right  well.  Witness  his  graphic  account  of  Roque  Guinart, 
whose  conduct  to  his  victims  and  behavior  to  his  comrades  tallied, 
to  our  certain  knowledge,  with  that  observed  by  Jose  Maria,  and 
was  perfectly  analogous  to  the  similar  traits  of  character  exhi- 
bited by  the  Italian  bandit  Ghino  de  Tacco,  the  immortalized  by 
Dante,  as  well  as  by  our  Robin  Hood  and  Diana's  foresters. 
Being  strong,  they  could  afford  to  be  generous  and  merciful. 

Notwithstanding  these  moral  securities,  if  only  by  way  of 
making  assurance  doubly  sure,  an  Englishman  will  do  well  when 
travelling  in  exposed  districts  to  be  provided  with  a  decent  bag 
of  dollars,  which  makes  a  handsome  purse,  feels  heavy  in  the 
hand,  and  -is  that  sort  of  amount  which  the  Spanish  brigand 
thinks  a  native  of  our  proverbially  rich  country  ought  to  have 
with  him  on  his  travels.  He  has  a  remarkable  tact  in  estimating 
from  the  look  of  an  individual,  his  equipage,  &c.,  how  much, 
ready  money  it  is  befitting  his  condition  for  him  to  have  about 
him  :  if  the  sum  should  not  be  enough,  he  resents  severely  his 
being  robbed  of  the  regular  perquisite  to  which  he  considers  him- 
self entitled  by  the  long-established  usage  of  the  high-road.  The 
person  unprovided  altogether  with  cash  is  generally  made  a  severe 
example  of,  pour  encourager  les  autres,  either  by  being  well 
beaten  or  stripped  to  the  skin,  after  the  fashion'  of  the  thieves  of 
old,  near  Jericho.  The  traveller  should  have  a  watch  of  some 
kind — one  with  a  gaudy  gilt  chain  and  seals  is  the  best  suited  ; 
not  to  have  one  exposes  him  to  more  indignities  than  a  scantily- 
.filled  purse.  The  money  may  have  been  spent,  but  the  absence 


THE   RATERO.  201 


of*  a  watch  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  a  premeditated  intention 
of  not  being  robbed  of  it,  which  the  "  ladron"  considers  as  a  most 
unjustifiable  attempt  to  defraud  him  of  his  right. 

The  Spanish  "  ladrones"  are  generally  armed  with  a  blunder- 
buss, that  hangs  at  their  high-peaked  saddles,  which  are  covered 
with  a  white  or  blue  fleece,  emblematical  enough  of  shearing  pro- 
pensities ;  therefore,  perhaps,  the  order  of  the  golden  fleece  has 
been  given  to  certain  foreigners,  in  reward  for  having  eased  Spain 
of  her  independence  and  Murillos.  Their  dress  is  for  the  most 
part  very  rich,  and  in  the  highest  style  of  the  fancy  ;  hence  they 
are  the  envy  and  models  of  the  lower  classes,  being  arrayed  after 
the  fashion  of  the  smuggler,  or  the  bull-fighter,  or  in  a  word,  the 
"  majo"  or  dandy  of  Andalucia,  which  is  the  home  and  head- 
quarters of  all  those  who  aspire  to  the  elegant  accomplishments 
and  professions  just  alluded  to.  The  next  class  of  robbers — omit- 
ting some  minor  distinctions,  such  as  the  "  salteadores"  or  two  or 
three  persons  who  lie  in  ambuscade  nndjump  out  on  the  unpre- 
pared traveller — is  the  "  ratero"  "  the  rat."  He  is  not  brought 
regularly  up  to  the  profession  and  organized,  but  takes  to  it  on  a 
sudden,  and  for  the  special  occasion  which,  according  to  the 
proverb,  makes  a  thief,  La  ocasion  hace  al  ladron  ;  and  having 
committed  his  petty  larceny,  returns  to  his  pristine  occupation  or 
avocation. 

The  "raterillo"  or  small  rat,  is  a  skulking  footpad,  who 
seldom  attacks  any  but  single  and  unprotected  passengers,  who, 
if  they  get  robbed,  have  no  one  to  blame  but  themselves  ;  for 
no  man  is  justified  in  exposing  Spaniards  to  the  temptation  of 
doing  a  little  something  in  that  line.  The  shepherd  with  his 
sheep,  the  ploughman  at  his  plough,  the  vine-dresser  amid  his 
grapes,  all  have  their  gun,  ostensibly  for  their  individual  protec- 
tion, which  furnishes  means  of  assault  and  battery  against  those 
who  have  no  Other  defence  but  their  legs  and  virtue.  These 
self-same  extemporaneous  thieves  are,  however,  remarkably  civil 
to  armed  and  prepared  travellers;  to  them  they  touch  their  hats, 
and  exclaim,  "  Good  day  to  you,  my  lord  knight,"  and  "  May 
your  grace  go  with  God/'  with  all  that  innocent  simplicity 
which  is  observable  in  pastorals,  opera-ballets,  and  other  equally 
correct  representations  of  rural  life.  These  rats  are  held  in  as 

10* 


202  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY 

profound  contempt  by  the  higher  classes  of  the  profession,  as 
political  ones  used  to  be,  before  parties  were  betrayed  by  turn- 
coats, who,  with  tails  and  without,  deserted  to  the  enemies'  camp. 
The  ladron  en  grande  looks  down  on  this  sneaking  competitor 
as  a  regular  M.D.  and  member  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
does  on  a  quack,  who  presumes  to  take  fees  and  kill  without  a 
licence.  However  despicable,  these  rats  are  very  dangerous  ; 
lacking  the  generous  feeling  which  the  possession  of  power  and 
united  force  bestows,  they  have  the  cowardice  and  cruelty  of 
weakness:  hence  they  frequently  murder  their  victim,  because 
dead  men  tell  no  tales. 

The  distinction  between  these  higher  and  lower  classes  of 
rogues  will  be  better  understood  by  comparing  the  Napoleon 
of  war,  with  the  Napoleon  of  peace.  The  Corsican  was  the 
ladron  en  grande  ;  he  warred  against  mankind,  he  led  his  armed 
followers  to  pillage  and  plunder,  he  made  his  den  the  receiving 
house  of  the  stolen  goods  of  the  Continent :  but  he  did  it  openly 
and  manfully  by  his  own  right  hand  and  good  sword  ;  and  valor 
and  audacity  are  qualities  too  high  and  rare  not  to  command 
admiration — qualified,  indeed,  when  so  misapplied.  Louis-Phi- 
lippe is  a  raterOj  who,  skulking  under  disguise  of  amity  and  good 
faith,  works  out  in  the  dark,  and  by  cunning,  his  ends  of  avarice 
and  ambition ;  who,  acting  on  the  artful  dodger  (no)  principle, 
while  kissing  the  Queen,  picks  her  pocket  of  a  crown. 

It  must  be  stated  for  the  purposes  of  history  that  at  the  time 
when  Spain  was,  or  was  said  to  be,  overrun  with  rats  and  rob- 
bers, there  was,  as  Spaniards  have  it,  a  remedy  for  everything 
except  death ;  and  as  the  evils  were  notorious,  it  was  natural  that 
means  of  prevention  should  likewise  exist.  If  the  state  of  things 
had  been  so  bad  as  exaggerated  report  would  infer,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  that  any  travelling  or  traffic  could  have 
been  managed  in  the  Peninsula.  The  mails  aTnd  diligences, 
being  protected  by  government,  were  seldom  attacked,  and  those 
who  travelled  by  other  methods,  and  had  proper  recommenda- 
tions, seldom  failed  in  being  provided  by  the  authorities  with  a 
sufficient  escort.  A  regular  body  of  men  was  organized  for  that 
purpose;  they  were  called  "  Miguelites"  from,  it  is  said,  one 
Miguel  de  Prats,  an  armed  satellite  of  the  famous  or  infamous 


MIGUELITES.  203 

Caesar  Borgia.  In  Catalonia  they  are  called  "  Mozos  de  la 
Escuadra"  "  Lads  of  the  squadron,  land  marines  ;"  they  are 
the  modern  "  Hermandad"  the  brotherhood  which  formed  the 
old  Spanish  rural  armed  police.  Composed  of  picked  and  most 
active  young  men,  they  served  on  foot,  under  the  orders  of  the 
military  powers  ;  they  were  dressed  in  a  sort  of  half  uniform 
and  half  majo  costume.  Their  gaiters  were  black  instead  of 
yellow,  and  their  jackets  of  blue  trimmed  with  red.  They  were 
well  armed  with  a  short  gun  and  a  belt  round  the  waist  in  which 
the  ammunition  was  placed,  a  much  more  convenient  contri- 
vance than  our  cartouche-box;  they  had  a  sword,  a  cord  for 
securing  prisoners,  and  a  single  pistol,  which  was  stuck  in  their 
sashes,  at  their  backs.  This  corps  was  on  a  perfect  par  with  the 
robbers,  from  whom  some  of  them  were  chosen  ;  indeed,  the 
common  condition  of  the  "  indulto,"  or  pardon  to  robbers,  is  to 
enlist,  and  extirpate  their  former  associates — set  a  thief  to  catch 
a  thief;  both  the  honest  and  renegade  Miguelites  hunted  "  la 
mala  gente"  as  gamekeepers  do  poachers.  The  robbers  feared 
and  respected  them  ;  an  escort  of  ten  or  twelve  Miguelites  might 
brave  any  number  of  banditti,  who  never  or  rarely  attack  where 
resistance  is  to  be  anticipated  ;  and  in  travelling  through  suspected 
spots  these  escorts  showed  singular  skill  in  taking  every  precaution, 
by  throwing  out  skirmishers  in  front  and  at  the  sides.  They 
covered  in  their  progress  a  large  space  of  ground,  taking  care 
never  to  keep  above  two  together,  nor  more  distant  from  each 
other  than  gun-shot ;  rules  which  all  travellers  will  do  well  to 
remember,  and  to  enforce  on  all  occasions  of  suspicion.  The 
rare  instances  in  which  Englishmen,  especially  officers  of  the 
garrison  of  Gibraltar,  have  been  robbed,  have  arisen  from  a 
neglect  of  this  precaution  ;  when  the  whole  party  ride  together 
they  may  be  all  caught  at  once,  as  in  a  casting-net. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  Spanish  robbers  are  very  shy  in  at- 
tacking armed  English  travellers,  and  particularly  if  they  appear 
on  their  guard.  The  robbers  dislike  fighting,  and  the  more  as 
they  do  so  at  a  disadvantage,  from  having  a  halter  round  their 
necks,  and  they  hate  danger,  from  knowing  what  it  is ;  they  have 
no  chivalrous  courage,  nor  any  more  abstract  notions  of  fair  play 
than  a  Turk  or  a  tiger,  who  are  too  uncivilized  to  throw  away  a 


204  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

chance  ;  accordingly,  they  seldom  join  issue  where  the  defendants 
seem  pugnacious,  which  is  likely  to  be  the  case  with  Englishmen. 
They  also  peculiarly  dislike  English  guns  and  gunpowder,  which, 
in  fact,  both  as  arms  and  ammunition,  are  infinitely  superior  to 
those  of  Spain.  Though  three  or  four  Englishmen  had  nothing 
to  fear,  yet  where  there  were  ladies  it  was  better  to  be  provided 
with  an  escort  of  Miguelites.  These  men  have  a  keen  and  ac- 
curate eye,  and  were  always  on  the  look-out  for  prints  of  horses 
and  other  signs,  which,  escaping  the  notice  of  superficial  observ- 
ers, indicated  to  their  practised  observations  the  presence  of 
danger.  They  were  indefatigable,  keeping  up  with  a  carriage 
day  and  night,  braving  heat  and  cold,  hunger  and  thirst.  As 
they  were  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  government,  they  were 
not,  strictly  speaking,  entitled  to  any  remuneration  from  those 
travellers  whom  they  were  directed  to  escort ;  it  was.  however, 
usual  to  give  to  each  man  a  couple  of  pesetas  a  day,  and  a  dollar  to 
their  leader.  The  trifling  addition  of  a  few  cigars,  a  "  bota"  or  two 
of  wine,  some  rice  and  dried  cod-fish  for  their  evening  meal,  was 
well  bestowed ;  exercise  sharpened  thier  appetites ;  and  they 
were  always  proud  to  drink  to  their  master's  long  life  and  purse, 
and  protect  both. 

Those,  whether  natives  of  foreigners,  who  could  not  obtain  or 
afford  the  expense  of  an  escort  to  themselves,  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  of  joining  company  with  some  party  who  had 
one.  It  is  wonderful  how  soon  the  fact  of  an  escort  being  granted 
was  known,  and  how  the  number  of  travellers  increased,  who 
were  anxious  to  take  advantage  of  the  convoy.  As  all  go  armed, 
the  united  allied  forces  became  more  formidable  as  the  number 
increased,  and  the  danger  became  less.  If  no  one  happened  to 
be  travelling  with  an  escort,  then  travellers  waited  for  the  passage 
of  troops,  for  the  government's  sending  money,  tobacco,  or  any- 
thing else  which  required  protection.  If  none  of  these  opportuni- 
ties offered,  all  who  were  about  to  travel  joined  company.  This 
habit  of  forming  caravans  is  very  Oriental,  and  has  become  quite 
national  in  Spain,  insomuch  that  it  is  almost  impossible  'to  travel 
alone,  as  others  will  join ;  weaker  and  smaller  parties  will  unite 
with  all  stronger  and  larger  companies  whom  they  meet  going  the 
same  road,  whether  the  latter  like  it  or  not.  The  muleteers  are 


TRAVELLING   ESCORTS.  205 

most  social  and  gregarious  amongst  each  other,  and  will  often  en- 
deavor  to  derange  their  employer's  line  of  route,  in  order  to  fall 
in  with  that  of  their  chance-met  comrades.  The  caravan,  like  a 
snow-ball,  increases  in  bulk  as  it  rolls  on  ;  it  is  often  pretty 
considerable  at  the  very  outset,  for,  even  before  starting  the  mule- 
teers and  proprietors  of  carriages,  being  well  known  to  each 
other,  communicate  mutually  the  number  of  travellers  which 
each  has  got. 

Travelling  in  out-of-the-way  districts  in  a  "  coche  de  colleras" 
and  especially  if  accompanied  with  a  baggage-waggon,  exposes 
the  party  to  be  robbed.  When  the  caravan  arrives  in  the  small 
villages  it  attracts  immediate  notice,  and  if  it  gets  wind  that  the 
travellers  are  foreigners,  they  are  supposed  to  be  laden  with  gold 
and  booty.  Such  an  arrival  is  a  rare  event ;  the  news  spreads 
like  wildfire,  and  collects  all  the  "  mala  gente"  the  bad  set  of 
idlers  and  loiterers,  who  act  as  spies,  and  convey  intelligence  to 
their  confederates;  again,  the  bulk  of  the  equipage,  the  noise  and 
clatter  of  men  and  mules,  is  seen  and  heard  from  afar,  by  robbers 
if  there  be  any,  who  lurk  in  hiding-places  or  eminences,  and  are 
well  provided  with  telescopes,  besides  with  longer  and  sharper 
noses,  which,  as  Gil  Bias  says,  smell  coin  in  travellers'  pockets, 
while  the  slow  pace  and  impossibility  of  flight  renders  such  a 
party  an  easy  prey  to  well  mounted  horsemen. 

This  condition  of  affairs,  these  dangers,  real  or  imaginary,  and 
these  precautions,  existed  principally  in  journeys  by  cross  roads, 
or  through  provinces  rarely  visited,  and  unprovided  with  public 
carriages ;  if,  however,  such  districts  were  reputed  the  worst, 
they  often  had  the  advantage  of  being  freer  from  regular  bands, 
for  where  there  are  few  passengers,  why  should  there  be  robbers, 
who  like  spiders  place  their  nets  where  the  supply  of  flies  is 
sure  ? — and  little  do  the  humbler  masses  of  Spain  care  either  for 
robbers  or  revolutionists ;  they  have  nothing  to  lose,  and  are  be- 
neath the  notice  of  pickpockets  or  pseudo-patriots.  Their  rags  an 
their  safeguard,  a  fine  climate  clothes  them,  a  fertile  soil  feedtr 
them ;  they  doze  away  in  the  happy  want  and  poverty,  ever  the 
best  protections  in  Spain,  or  strum  their  guitars  and  sing  staves 
in  praise  of  empty  purses.  The  better  provided  have  to  look  out 
for  themselves ;  indeed,  whenever  the  law  is  insufficient  men 


206  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   TPIEIR   COUNTRY. 

it  into  their  own  hands,  cither  to  protect  themselves  or  their  pro- 
perty, or  to  administer  wild  justice,  and  obtain  satisfaction  for 
wrongs,  which  in  plain  Spanish  is  called  revenge.  An  Irish  land- 
lord arms  his  servants  and  raises  walls  round  his  "  demesne" — an 
English  squire  employs  watchers  and  keepers  to  preserve  his 
pheasants — so  in  suspected  localities  a  Spanish  hidalgo  protects 
his  person  by  hiring  armed  peasants ;  they  are  called  "  escopete- 
ros,"  people  with  guns — a  definition  which  is  applicable  to  most 
Spaniards.  When  out  of  town  this  custom  of  going  armed,  and 
early  acquaintance  with  the  use  of  the  gun,  is  the  principal  rea- 
son why,  on  the  shortest  notice,  bodies  of  men,  whom  the  Spanish 
call  soldiers,  are  got  together  ;  every  field  furnishes  the  raw  mate- 
rial— a  man  with  a  musket.  Baggage,  commissariat,  pay,  rations, 
uniform,  and  discipline,  which  are  European  rather  than  Oriental, 
are  more  likely  to  be  found  in  most  other  armies  than  in  those  of 
Spain.  These  things  account  for  the  facility  with  which  the 
Spanish  nation  flies  so  magnanimously  to  arms,  and  after 'bush- 
fighting  and  buccaneering  expeditions,  disappears  at  once  after  a 
reverse  ;  "  every  man  to  his  own  home,"  as  of  old  in  the  East, 
and  that,  with  or  without  proclamation.  These  "  escopeteros" 
occasionally  robbers  themselves,  live  either  by  robbery  or  by 
the  prevention  of  it ;  for  there  is  some  honor  among  thieves ; 
"  entre  lobos  no  se  come"  "  wolves  don't  eat  each  other,"  unless 
very  hard  up  indeed.  These  fellows  naturally  endeavor  to  alarm 
travellers  with  over-exaggerated  accounts  of  dangers,  ogres  and 
antres  vast,  in  order  that  their  services  may  be  engaged ;  their 
inventions  are  often  believed  by  swallowers  of  camels,  who  note 
down  as  facts,  these  tricks  upon  travellers  got  up  for  the  occasion, 
by  people  who  are  making  long  noses  at  them,  behind  their  backs  ; 
but  these  longer  lies  are  among  the  accidents  of  long  journeys, 
"  en  luengas  vias,  luengas  mentiras." 

As  we  are  now  writing  history,  it  may  be  added  that  great  men 
like  Jose  Maria  often  granted  passports.  This  true  trooper  of  the 
Deloraine  breed  was  untrammelled  with  the  fetters  of  spelling. 
Although  he  could  barely  write  his  name,  he  could  rubricate* 

*  The  kings  of  Spain  seldom  use  any  other  royal  signature,  except  the 
ancient  Gothic  rubrica,  or  mark.  This  monogram  is  something  like  a  Runic 
knot.  Spaniards  exercise  much  ingenuity  in  these  intricate  flourishes,  which 


TALISMANIC    DEFENCES.  207 

as  well  as  any  other  Spaniard  in  command,  or  Ferdinand  VII.  him- 
self.  "  His  mark"  was  a  protection  to  all  who  would  pay  hirn 
black  mail.  It  was  authenticated  with  such  a  portentous  griffon- 
age  as  would  have  done  credit  to  Ali  Pacha.  An  intimate  friend 
of  ours,  a  merry  gastronomic  dignitary  of  Seville,  who  was  going 
to  the  baths  of  Caratraca,  to  recover  from  over  indulgence  in  rich 
ollas  and  valdepenas,  and  had  no  wish,  like  the  gouty  abbot  of 
Boccaccio,  to  be  put  on  robber  regimen,  procured  a  pass  from 
Jose  Maria,  and  took  one  of  his  gang  as  a  travelling  escort,  who 
sat  on  the  coach-box,  and  whom  he  described  to  us  as  his  "  san- 
tito"  his  little  guardian  angel. 

W  -lo  on  the  subject  of  this  spiritual  and  supernatural  protec- 
tion, h  may  be  added  that  firm  faith  was  placed  in  the  wearing  a 
relic,  a  medal  of  the  Virgin,  her  rosary  or  scapulary.  Thus  the 
Duchess  of  Abrantes  this  very  autumn  hung  the  Virgen  del  Pilar 
round  the  neck  of  her  favorite  bull-fighter,  who  escaped  in  con- 
sequence. Few  Spanish  soldiers  go  into  battle  without  such  a 
preservative  in  their  petos,  or  stuff  waddings,  which  is  supposed 
to  turn  bullets,  and  to  divert  fire,  like  a  lightning  conductor, 
which  probably  it  does,  as  so  few  are  ever  killed.  In  the  more 
romantic  days  of  Spain  no  duel  or  tournament  could  be  fought 
without  a  declaration  from  the  combatants,  that  they  had  no  relic, 
no  engano  or  cheat,  about  their  persons.  Our  friend  Jose  Maria 
attributed  his  constant  escapes  to  an  image  of  the  Virgin  of  Grief 
of  Cordova,  which  never  quitted  his  shaggy  breast.  Indeed,  the 
native  districts  of  the  lower  classes  in  Spain  may  be  generally 
known  by  their  religious  ornaments.  These  talismanic  amulets 
are  selected  from  the  saint  or  relic  most  honored,  arid  esteemed 
most  efficacious,  in  their  immediate  vicinity.  Thus  the  "  Santo 
Rostro,"  or  Holy  Countenance  of  Jaen,  is  worn  all  over  the  king- 
dom of  Granada,  as  the  Cross  of  Caravaca  is  over  Murcia ;  the 
rosary  of  the  Virgin  is  common  to  all  Spain.  The  following 

they  tack  on  to  their  names,  as  a  collateral  security  of  authenticity.  It  is 
said  that  a  rubrica  without  a  name  is  of  more  value  than  a  name  without  a 
rubrica.  Sancho  Panza  tells  Don  Q,uixote  that  his  rubrica  alone  is  worth, 
not  one,  but  three  hundred  jackasses.  Those  who  cannot  write  rubricate  ; 
"No  saber  firmar? — not  to  know  how  to  sign  one's  name, — is  jokingly  held 
in  Spain  to  be  one  of  the  attributes  of  grandeeship. 


208  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

miraculous  proof  of  its  saving  virtues  was  frequently  painted  in 
the  convents  : — A  robber  was  shot  by  a  traveller  and  buried  ; 
his  comrades,  some  time  afterwards  passing  by,  heard  his  voice, 
— "  this  fellow  in  the  cellarage  ;" — they  opened  the  grave  and 
found  him  alive  and  unhurt,  for  when  he  was  killed,  he  had  hap- 
pened to  have  a  rosary  round  his  neck,  and  Saint  Dominick  (its 
inventor)  was  enabled  to  intercede  with  the  Virgin  in  his  behalf. 
This  reliance  on  the  Virgin  is  by  no  means  confined  to  Spain, 
since  the  Italian  banditti  always  wear  a  small  silver  heart  of  the 
Madonna,  and  this  mixture  of  ferocity  and  superstition  is  one  of 
the  most  terrific  features  of  their  character.  Saint  Nicholas, 
however,  the  English  "  Old  Nick,"  is  in  all  countries  the  patron 
of  schoolboys,  thieves,  or,  as  Shakspeare  calls  them,  "  Saint 
Nicholas's  clerks."  "  Keep  thy  neck  for  the  hangman,  for  I  know 
thou  worshippest  St.  Nicholas  as  a  man  of  falsehood  may;"  and 
like  him,  Santu  Diavolu,  Santu  Diavoluni,  Holy  Devil,  is  the  ap- 
propriate saint  of  the  Sicilian  bandit.' 

San  Dimas,  the  "  good  thief,"  is  a  great  saint  in  Andalucia, 
where  his  disciples  are  said  to  be  numerous.  A  celebrated  carv- 
ing by  Montanes,  in  Seville,  is  called  '  El  Cristo,  del  luen  ladronj 
— "  the  Christ,  of  the  good  thief;"  thus  making  the  Saviour  a 
subordinate  person.  Spanish  robbers  have  always  been  remark- 
ably good  Roman  Catholics.  In  the  Rinconete  y  Cortadillo,  the 
Lurker  and  Cutpurse  of  Cervantes,  whose  Monipodio  must  have 
furnished  Fagin  to  Boz,  a  box  is  placed  before  the  Virgin,  to 
which  each  robber  contributes,  and  one  remarks  that  he  "Tobs 
for  the  service  of  God,  and  for  all  honest  fellows."  Their  moun- 
tain confessors  of  the  Friar  Tuck  order,  animated  by  a  pious 
love  for  dollars  when  expended  in  expiatory  masses,  consider  the 
payment  to  them  of  good  doubloons  such  a  laudable  restitution, 
such  a  sincere  repentance,  as  to  entitle  the  contrite  culprit  to 
ample  absolution,  plenary  indulgence,  and  full  benefit  of  clergy. 
Notwithstanding  this,  these  ungrateful  "  good  thieves"  have  been 
known  to  rob  their  spiritual  pastors  and  masters,  when  they  catch 
them  on  the  high  road. 

To  return  to  the  saving  merit  of  these  talismans.  We  our- 
selves  suspended  to  our  sheepskin  jacket  one  of  the  silver  medals 
of  Santiago,  which  are  sold  to  pilgrims  at  Compostella,  and  ar- 


EXECUTION   OF  A   ROBBER.  209 

rived  back  again  to  Seville  from  the  long  excursion,  safe  and 
sound  and  un pillaged  except  by  venteros  and  our  faithful  squire 
— an  auspicious  event,  which  was  entirely  attributed  by  the 
aforesaid  dignitary  to  the  intervention  vouchsafed  by  the  patron 
of  the  Spains  to  all  who  wore  his  order,  which  thus  protects 
the  bearer  as  a  badge  does  a  Thames  waterman  from  a  press- 
gang. 

An  account  of  the  judicial  death  of  one  of  the  gang  of  Jose 
Maria,  which  we  witnessed,  will  be  an  appropriate  conclusion  to 
these  remarks,  and  an  act  of  justice  towards  our  fair  readers  for 
this  detail  of  breaches  of  the  peace,  and  the  bad  company  into 
which  they  have  been  introduced.  Jose  de  Roxas,  commonly 
called  (for  they  generally  have  some  nickname)  El  Veneno, 
"  Poison,"  from  his  viper-like  qualities,  was  surprised  by  some 
troops  :  he  made  a  desperate  resistance,  and  when  brought  to  the 
ground  by  a  ball  in  his  leg,  killed  the  soldier  who  rushed  for- 
ward to  secure  him.  He  proposed  when  in  prison  to  deliver  up 
his  comrades  if  his  own  life  were  guaranteed  to  him.  The  offer 
was  accepted,  and  he  was  sent  out  with  a  sufficient  force  ;  and 
such  was  the  terror  of  his  name,  that  they  surrendered  them- 
selves, not  however  to  him,  and  were  pardoned.  Veneno  was 
then  tried  for  his  previous  offences,  found  guilty,  and  condemned  : 
he  pleaded  that  he  had  indirectly  accomplished  the  object  for 
which  his  life  w*as  promised  him,  but  in  vain ;  for  such  trials  in 
Spain  are  a  mere  form,  to  give  an  air  of  legality  to  a  predeter- 
mined sentence  : — the  authorities  adhered  to  the  killing  letter  of 
their  agreement,  and 

"  Kept  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear, 
But  broke  it  to  the  hope.'7 

As  Veneno  was  without  friends  or  money,  wherewith  Gines  Pas- 
samonte  anointed  the  palm  of  justice  and  got  free,  the  sentence 
was  of  course  ordered  to  be  carried  ir. to  effect.  The  courts  of 
law  and  the  prisons  of  Seville  are  situated  near  the  Pla^a  San 
Francisco,  which  has  always  been  the  site  of  public  executions. 
On  the  day  previous  nothing  indicates  the  scene  which  will  take 
place  on  the  following  morning ;  everything  connected  with  this 
ceremony  of  death  is  viewed  with  horror  bv  Spaniards,  not  from 


210  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

that  abstract  abhorrence  of  shedding  blood  which  among  other  na- 
tions induces  the  lower  orders  to  detest  the  completer  of  judicial 
sentences,  as  the  smaller  feathered  tribes  do  the  larger  birds  of 
prey,  but  from  ancient  Oriental  prejudices  of  pollution,  and  be- 
cause all  actually  employed  in  the  operation  are  accounted  infa- 
mous, and  lose  their  caste,  and  purity  of  blood.  Even  the  gloomy 
scaffolding  is  erected  in  the  night  by  unseen,  unknown  hands,  and 
rises  from  the  earth  like  a  fungus  work  of  darkness,  to  make  the 
day  hideous  and  shock  the  awakening  eye  of  Seville.  When 
the  criminal  is  of  noble  blood  the  platform,  which  in  ordinary 
cases  is  composed  of  mere  carpenter's  work,  is  covered  with  black 
baize.  The  operation  of  hanging,  among  so  unmechanical  a 
people,  with  no  improved  patent  invisible  drop,  used  to  be  con- 
ducted in  a  cruel  and  clumsy  manner.  The  wretched  culprits 
were  dragged  up  the  steps  of  the  ladder  by  the  executioner,  who 
then  mounted  on  their  shoulders  and  threw  himself  off  with  his 
victims,  and,  while  both  swung  backwards  and  forwards  in  the 
air,  was  busied,  with  spider-liKe  fingers,  in  fumbling  about  the 
neck  of  the  sufferers,  until  being  satisfied  that  life  was  extinct  he 
let  himself  down  to  the  ground  by  the  bodies.  Execution  by 
hanging  was,  however,  graciously  abolished  by  Ferdinand  VII., 
the  beloved ;  this  father  of  his  people  determined  that  the  future 
death  for  civil  offences  should  be  strangulation, — a  mode  of  re- 
moving to  a  better  world  those  of  his  children  who  deserved  it 
which  is  certainly  more  in  accordance  with  the  Oriental  bow- 
string. 

Veneno  was  placed,  as  is  usual,  the  day  before  his  execution, 
"  en  capilla"  in  a  chapel  or  cell  set  apart  for  the  condemned, 
where  the  last  comforts  of  religion  are  administered.  This  was 
a  small  room  in  the  prison,  and  the  most  melancholy  in  that  dwell- 
ing of  woe,  for  such  indeed,  as  Cervantes  from  sad  experience 
knew,  and  described  a  Spanish  prison  to  be,  it  still  is.  An  iron 
grating  formed  the  partition  of  the  corridor,  which  led  to  the 
chamber.  This  passage  was  crowded  with  members  of  a  chari- 
table brotherhood,  who  were  collecting  alms  from  the  visitors,  to 
be  expended  in  masses  for  the  eternal  repose  of  the  soul  of  the 
criminal.  There  were  groups  of  officers,  and  of  portly  Francis- 
can friars  smoking  their  cigars  and  looking  carefully  from  time 


EXECUTION   OF   A   ROBBER.  211 

to  time  into  the  amount  of  the  contributions,  which  were  to  benefit 
their  bodies,  quite  as  much  as  the  soul  of  the  condemned.  The 
levity  of  those  assembled  without  formed,  meantime,  a  heartless 
contrast  with  the  gloom  and  horror  of  the  melancholy  interior. 
A  small  door  opened  into  the  cell,  over  which  might  well  be  in- 
scribed the  awful  words  of  Dante — 

'•'  Lasciate  ogni  speranza,  roi  ch'  entrate !'? 

At  the  head  of  this  room  was  placed  a  table,  with  a  crucifix,  an 
image  of  the  Virgin,  an^  two  wax  tapers,  near  which  stood  a  si- 
lent sentinel  with  a  drawn  sword  ;  another  soldier  was  stationed 
at  the  door,  with  a  fixed  bayonet.  In  a  corner  of  this  darkened 
apartment  was  the  pallet  of  Veneno  ;  he  was  lying  curled  up  like 
a  snake,  with  a  striped  coverlet  (the  Spanish  mania)  drawn  closely 
over  his  mouth,  leaving  visible  only  a  head  of  matted  locks,  a 
glistening  dark  eye,  rolling  restlessly  out  of  the  white  socket. 
On  being  approached  he  sprung  up  and  seated  himself  on  a  stool : 
he  was  almost  naked  ;  a  chaplet  of  beads  hung  across  his  exposed 
breast,  and  contrasted  with  the  iron  chains  around  his  limbs  : — 
Superstition  had  riveted  her  fetters  at  his  birth,  and  the  Law  her 
manacles  at  his  death.  The  expression  of  his  face,  though  low 
and  vulgar,  was  one  which  once  seen  is  not  easily  forgotten, — a 
slouching  look  of  more  than  ordinary  guilt :  his  sallow  complex- 
ion appeared  more  cadaverous  in  the  uncertain  light,  and  was 
heightened  by  a  black,  unshorn  beard,  growing  vigorously  on  a 
half-dead  countenance.  He  appeared  to  be  reconciled  to  his  fate, 
and  repeated  a  few  sentences,  the  teaching  of  the  monks,  as  by 
rote  :  his  situation  was  probably  more  painful  to  the  spectator  than 
to  himself — an  indifference  to  death,  arising  rather  from  an  igno- 
rance of  its  dreadful  import,  than  from  high  moral  courage : 
he  was  the  Bernardino  of  Shakspeare.  "  a  man  that  apprehends 
death  no  more  dreadfully  than  a  drunken  sleep,  careless,  reck- 
less,  and  fearless  of  what  5s  past,  present,  and  to  come,  insensible 
of  mortality,  and  desperately  mortal." 

Next  morning  the  triple  tiers  of  the  old  balconies,  roofs,  and 
whole  area  of  the  Moorish  and  most  picturesque  square  were 
crowded  by  the  lower  orders ;  the  men  wrapped  up  in  their 
cloaks— (it  was  a  December  morning) — the  women  in  their  man 


812  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

tillas,  many  with  young  children  in  their  arms,  brought  in  the 
beginning  of  life  to  witness  its  conclusion.  The  better  classes 
not  only  absent  themselves  from  these  executions,  but  avoid  any 
allusion  to  the  subject  as  derogatory  to  European  civilization  ; 
the  humbler  ranks,  who  hold  the  conventions  of  society  very 
cheap,  give  loose  to  their  morbid  curiosity  to  behold  scenes  of 
terror,  which  operates  powerfully  on  the  women,  who  seem  im- 
pelled irresistibly  to  witness  sights  the  most  repugnant  to  their 
nature,  and  to  behold  sufferings  which  they  would  most  dread  to 
undergo;  they,  like  children,  are  the  great  lovers  of  the  horrible, 
whether  in  a  tale  or  in  dreadful  reality  ;  to  the  men  it  was  as  a 
tragedy,  where  the  last  scene  is  death — -death  which  rivets  the  at- 
tention of  all,  who  sooner  or  later  must  enact  the  same  sad  part.* 
They  desire  to  see  how  the  criminal  will  conduct  himself;  they 
sympathize  with  him  if  he  displays  coolness  and  courage,  and 
despise  him  on  the  least  symptom  of  unmanliness.  An  open 
square  was  then  formed  about  the  scaffold  by  lines  of  soldiers 
drawn  up,  into  which  the  officers  and  clergy  were  admitted.  As 
the  fatal  hour  drew  nigh,  the  increasing  impatience  of  the  multi- 
tude began  to  vent  itself  in  complaints  of  how  slowly  the  time 
passed — that  time  of  no  value  to  them,  but  of  such  precious  im- 
port to  him,  whose  very  moments  were  numbered. 

When  at  length  the  cathedral  clock  tolled  out  the  fatal  hour,  a 
universal  stir  of  tiptoe  expectation  took  place,  a  pushing  forward 
to  get  the  best  situations.  Still  ten  minutes  had  to  elapse,  for  the 
clock  of  the  tribunal  is  purposely  set  so  much  later  than  that  of 
the  cathedral,  in  order  to  afford  the  utmost  possible  chance  of  a 
reprieve.  When  that  clock  too  had  rung  out  its  knell,  all  eyes 
were  turned  to  the  prison-door,  from  whence  the  miserable  man 
came  forth,  attended  by  some  Franciscans.  He  had  chosen  that 
order  to  assist  at  his  dying  moments,  a  privilege  always  left  to 
the  criminal.  He  was  clad  in  a  coarse  yellow  baize  gown,  the 
color  which  denotes  the  crime  of  murder,  and  is  appropriated  al- 
ways to  Judas  Iscariot  in  Spanish  paintings.  He  walked  slowly 
on  his  last  journey,  half  supported  by  those  around  him,  and 
stopping  often,  ostensibly  to  kiss  the  crucifix  held  before  him  by 

*  '•'  Chacun  fuit  &  le  voir  naitre,  chacun  court  a  le  voir  mourir !" — Mon- 
taigne. 


EXECUTION    OF   A   ROBBER.  213 

a  friar,  but  rather  to  prolong  existence — sweet  life ! — even  yet  a 
moment.  When  he  arrived  reluctantly  at  the  scaffold,  he  knelt 
down  on  the  steps,  the  threshold  of  death  ; — the  reverend  attend- 
ants covered  him  over  with  their  blue  robes — his  dying  confes- 
sion was  listened  to  unseen.  He  then  mounted  the  platform  at- 
tended by  a  single  friar;  addressed  the  crowd  in  broken  sen- 
tences, with  a  gasping  breath — told  them  that  he  died  repentant, 
that  he  was  justly  punished,  and  that  he  forgave  his  executioner. 
"  Mi  delito  me  mata,  y  no  ese  liombre" — rny  offence  puts  me  to 
death,  and  not  this  fellow ;  as  "  Ese  hombre"  is  a  contemptuous 
expression,  and  implies  insult,  the  ruling  feeling  of  the  Spaniard 
was  displayed  in  death  against  the  degraded  functionary.  The 
criminal  then  exclaimed,  "  Viva  la  fe  !  viva  la  religion  !  viva  el 
rey  !  viva  el  nombre  de  Jesus  /"  All  of  which  met  no  echo  from 
those  who  heard  him.  His  dying  cry  was  "  Viva  la  Virgin  San- 
tisima  /"  at  these  words  the  devotion  to  the  goddess  of  Spain 
burst  forth  in  one  general  acclamation,  "  Viva  la  Santisima  !'' 
So  strong  is  their  feeling  towards  the  Virgin,  and  so  lukewarm 
their  comparative  indifference  towards  their  king,  their  faith,  and 
their  Saviour  !  Meanwhile  the  executioner,  a  young  man  dressed 
in  black,  was  busied  in  the  preparations  for  death.  The  fatal 
instrument  is  simple :  the  culprit  is  placed  on  a  rude  seat ;  his 
back  leans  against  a  strong  upright  post,  to  which  an  iron  collar 
is  attached,  enclosing  his  neck,  and  so  contrived  as  to  be  drawn 
^home  to  the  post  by  turning  a  powerful  screw.  The  executioner 
bound  so  tightly  the  naked  legs  and  arms  of  Veneno,  that  they 
swelled  and  became  black — -a  precaution  not  unwise,  as  the  fa- 
ther of  this  functionary  had  been  killed  in  the  act  of  executing  a 
struggling  criminal.  The  priest  who  attended  Veneno  was  a 
bloated,  corpulent  man,  more  occupied  in  shading  the  sun  from 
his  own  face,  than  in  his  ghostly  office ;  the  robber  sat  with  a 
writhing  "look  of  agony,  grinding  his  clenched  teeth.  When  all 
was  ready,  the  executioner  took  the  lever  of  the  screw  in  both 
hands,  gathered  himself  up  for  a  strong  muscular  effort,  and,  at 
the  moment  of  a  preconcerted  signal,  drew  the  iron  collar  tight, 
while  an  attendant  flung  a  black  handkerchief  over  the  face — a 
convulsive  pressure  of  the  hands  and  a  heaving  of  the  chest  were 
the  only  visible  signs  of  the  passing  of  the  robber's  spirit.  After 


214  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

a  pause  of  a  few  moments,  the  executioner  cautiously  peeped 
under  the  handkerchief,  and  after  having  given  another  turn  to 
the  screw,  lifted  it  off,  folded  it  up,  carefully  put  it  into  his  pocket, 
and  then  proceeded  to  light  a  cigar 

— "  with  that  air  of  satisfaction, 

Which  good  men  wear  who've  done  a  virtuous  action." 

The  face  of  the  dead  man  was  slightly  convulsed,  the  mouth 
open,  the  eye-balls  turned  into  their  sockets  from  the  wrench. 
A  black  bier,  with  two  lanterns  fixed  on  staves,  and  a  crucifix, 
was  now  set  down  before  the  scaffold — also  a  small  table  and 
a  dish,  into  which  alms  were  again  collected,  to  be  paid  to  the 
priests  who  sang  masses  for  his  soul.  The  mob  having  discussed 
his  crimes,  abused  the  authorities  and  judges,  and  criticised  the 
manner  of  the  new  executioner  (it  was  his  maiden  effort),  began 
slowly  to  disperse,  to  the  great  content  of  the  neighboring  silver- 
smiths, who  ventured  to  open  their  closed  shutters,  having  hith- 
erto placed  more  confidence  in  bolts  and  bars,  than  in  the  moral 
example  presented  to  the  spectators.  The  body  remained  on  the 
scaffold  till  the  afternoon  ;  it  was  then  thrown  into  a  scavenger's 
cart,  and  led  by  the  "  pregonero"  the  common  crier,  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  city,  to  a  square  platform  called  "  La  mesa  del 
Rey"  the  king's  table,  where  the  bodies  of  the  executed  are 
quartered  and  cut  up — "a  pretty  dish  to  set  before  a  king." 
Here  the  carcase  was  hewed  and  hacked  into  pieces  by  the 
bungling  executioner  and  his  attendants,  with  that  inimitable  de- " 
fiance  of  anatomy  for  which  they  and  Spanish  surgeons  are 
equally  renowned — 

11  Le  gambe  di  lui  gettaron  in  una  fossa . 
II  Diavol  ebbe  1'alma.  i  lupi  Fossa." 

"  The  legs  of  the  robber  were  thrown  in  a  hole, 
The  wolves  got  his  bones,  the  devil  his  soul." 


THE   SPANISH   DOCTOR.  215 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Spanish  Doctor :  his  Social  Position — Medical  Abuses — Hospitals — 
Medical  Education — Lunatic  Asylums — Foundling  Hospital  of  Seville — 
Medical  Pretensions — Dissection — Family  Physician — Consultations — 
Medical  Costume — Prescriptions — Druggists — Snake  Broth — Salve  for 
Knife-cuts. 

THE  transition  from  the  Spanish  ventero  to  the  ladron  was  easy, 
nor  is  that  from  the  robbers  to  the  doctors  of  Spain  difficult ;  the 
former  at  least  offer  a  polite  alternative,  they  demand  "  your 
money  or  your  life,"  while  the  latter  in  most  cases  takes  both; 
yet  these  able  practitioners,  from  being  less  picturesque  in  cos- 
tume, and  more  undramatic  in  operations,  do  not  enjoy  so  bril- 
liant a  European  reputation  as  the  bandits.  Again,  while  our 
critical  monitors  cry  thieves  on  every  road  of  the  Peninsula,  no 
friendly  warning  is  given  against,  the  Sangrado,  whose  aspect  is 
more  deadly  than  the  coup  de  soleil  of  a  Castilian  sun  :  woe  waits 
the  wayfarer  who  falls  into  his  hands  ;  the  patient  cannot  be  too 
quick  in  ordering  the  measure  to  be  taken  of  his  coffin,  or,  as 
Spaniards  say,  of  his  tombstone,  which  last  article  is  shadowed 
out  by  the  first  feeling  of  the  invalid's  pulse — tomar  el  pulso,  es 
prognosticar  al  enfermo  la  loza.  It  was  probably  from  a  knowl- 
edge of  this  contingent  remainder,  that  Monsieur  Orfila  went,  or 
was  sent,  from  Paris  to  Madrid,  about  the  time  of  the  Montpe*- 
sier  marriage  with  the  Infanta,  in  the  hopes  of  rescuing  her 
elder  and  reigning  sister,  the  "  innocent"  Isabel,  from  the  fatal 
native  lancets — a  well-meant  interference  of  the  foreigner,  by 
the  way,  which  the  Spanish  faculty  resented  and  rejected  to  P 
man  ;  nor  were  the  guarded  suggestions  of  this  eminent  toxicolo- 
giste,  or  investigator  of  poisons,  with  regard  to  the  administration 
of  medicines  and  dispensaries,  received  so  thankfully  as  they  de- 
served. 

However  magnificently  endowed  in  former  times  were  the  hos- 


216  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


pitals  and  almshouses  of  Spain,  the  provision  now  made  for  poor 
and  ailing  humanity  is  very  inadequate.  The  revenues  were 
first  embezzled  by  the  managers,  and  since  have  almost  been 
swept  away.  Trustees  for  pious  and  charitable  uses  are  de- 
fenceless against  armed  avarice  and  appropriation  in  office  ;  and 
being  corporate  bodies,  they  want  the  sacredness  of  private  inter- 
ests, which  every  one  is  anxious  to  defend.  Hence  the  greedy 
minion  Godoy  began  the  spoliation,  by  seizing  the  funds,  and 
giving  in  lieu  government  securities,  which  of  course  turned  out 
to  be  worthless.  Then  ensued  the  French  invasion,  and  the  con- 
fiscation of  military  despots.  Civil  war  has  done  the  rest ;  and 
now  that  the  convents  are  suppressed,  the  deficienpy  is  more  evi- 
dent, for  in  the  remoter  country  districts  the  monks  bestowed  re- 
lief to  the  poor,  and  provided  medicines  for  the  sick.  With  few 
exceptions,  the  hospitals,  the  Casas  de  Misericordia,  or  houses 
for  the  destitute,  are  far  from  being  well  conducted  in  Spain, 
while  those  destined  for  lunatics,  and  for  exposed  children,  not- 
withstanding recent  improvements,  do  little  credit  to  -science  and 
humanity. 

The  base,  brutal,  and  bloody  Sangrados  of  Spain  have  long 
been  the  butts  of  foreign  and  domestic  novelists,  who  spoke  many 
a  true  word  in  their  jests.  The  common  expression  of  the  peo- 
ple in  regard  to  the  busy  mortality  of  their  patients,  is,  that  they 
die  like  bugs,  mueren  como  chinches.  This  recklessness  of  life, 
this  inattention  to  human  suffering,  and  backwardness  in  curative 
science,  is  very  Oriental  ;  for,  however  science  may  have  set 
westward  from  the  East,  the  arts  of  medicine  and  surgery  have 
not.  There,  as  in  Spain,  they  have  long  been  subordinate,  and 
the  professors  held  to  be  of  a  low  caste — a  fatal  bar  in  the  Penin- 
sula, where  the  point  of  personal  honor  is  so  nice,  and  men  will 
die  rather  than  submit  to  conventional  degradations.  The  sur- 
geon of  the  Spanish  Moors  was  frequently  a  despised  and  de- 
tested Jew,  which  would  create  a  traditionary  loathing  of  the 
calling.  The  physician  was  of  somewhat  a  higher  caste ;  but 
he,  like  the  botanist  and  chemist,  was  rather  to  be  met  with 
among  the  Infidels  than  the  Christians.  Thus  Sancho  the  Fat 
was  obliged  to  go  in  person  to  Cordova  in  search  of  "good  advice. 
And  still  in  Spain,  as  in  the  East,  all  whose  profession  is  to  put 


THE  SPANISH  DOCTOR.  217 

Jiving  creatures  to  death,  are  socially  almost  excommunicated  ; 
the  butcher,  bull-fighter,  and  public  executioner  for  example. 
Here  the  soldier  who  sabres,  takes  the  highest  rank,  and  he  who 
cures,  the  lowest;  here  the  M.D.'s,  whom  the  infallible  Pope 
consults  and  the  autocrat  king  obeys,  are  admitted  only  into  the 
sick  rooms  of  good  company,  which,  when  in  rude  health,  shuts 
on  them  the  door  of  their  saloons  ;  but  the  excluded  take  their 
revenge" on  those  who  morally  cut  them,  and  all  Spaniards  are 
very  dangerous  with  the  knife,  and  more  particularly  if  surgeons. 
Madrid  is  indeed  the  court  of  death,  and  the  necrology  of  the 
JGscorial  furnishes  the  surest  evidence  of  this  fact  in  the  prema- 
ture decease  of  royalty,  which  may  be  expected  to  have  the  best 
advice  and  aid,  both  medical  and  theologico-therapeutical,  that 
the  capital  can  afford  ;  but  brief  is  the  royal  span,  especially  in 
the  case  of  females  and  infantes,  and  the  result  is  undeniable  in 
these  statistics  of  death  ;  the  cause  lies  between  the  climate  and 
the  doctor,  who,  as  they  aid  the  other,  may  fairly  be  left  to  settle 
the  question  of  relative  excellence  between  each  other. 

The  Spanish  medical  man  is  shunned,  not  only  from  ancient 
prejudices,  and  because  he  is  dangerous  like  a  rattlesnake,  but 
from  jealousies  that  churchmen  entertain  against  a  rival  profes- 
sion, which,  if  well-received,  might  come  in  for  some  share  of  the 
legacies  and  power-conferring  secrets,  which  are  obtained  easily 
at  deathbeds,  when  mind  and  body  are  deprived  of  strength. 
Again,  a  Spanish  surgeon  and  a  Spanish  confessor  take  different 
views  of  a  patient;  one  only  wishes,  or  ought  to  wish,  to  preserve 
him  in  this  world,  and  the  other  in  the  next, — neither  probably  in 
their  hearts  having  much  opinion  of  the  remedies  adopted  by  each 
other :  the  spiritual  practice  changes  not,  for  novelty  itself,  a  her- 
esy in  religion,  is  not  favorably  beheld  in  any  thing  else.  Thus 
the  universities,  governed  by  ecclesiastics,  persuaded  the  poor 
bigot  Philip  III.  to  pass  a  law  prohibiting  the  study  of  any  new 
system  of  medicine,  and  requiring  Galen,  Hippocrates,  and  Avi- 
cenna.  Dons  and  men  for  whom  the  sun  still  continued  to  stand 
still,  scout  the  exact  sciences  and  experimental  philosophy  as  dan- 
gerous innovations,  which,  they  said,  made  every  medical  man  a 
Tiberius,  who,  because  he  was  fond  of  mathematics  where  strict 
demonstration  is  necessary,  was  rathe:  negligent  in  his  religious 

PART    IT.  11 


218  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

respect  for  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  Pantheon  ;  and  so,  in 
1830,  they  scared  the  timid  Ferdinand  VII.  (whose  resemblance 
to  Tiberius  had  nothing  to  do  with  Euclid)  by  telling  him  that  the 
schools  of  medicine  created  materialists,  heretics,  citizen-kings, 
chartists,  barricadoers,  and  revolutionists.  Thereupon  the  beloved 
monarch  shut  up  the  lecture  rooms  forthwith,  opening,  it  is  true, 
by  way  of  compensation,  a  tauromachian  university  ; — men  in- 
deed might  be  mangled,  but  bulls  were  to  be  mercifully  put  out 
of  their  misery,  secundem  artem,  and  with  the  honors  of  sci- 
ence. 

This  low  social  position  is  very  classical :  the  physicians  of 
Rome,  chiefly  liberty  freed  slaves,  were  only  made  citizens  by 
Csesar,  who  wished  to  conciliate  these  ministers  of  the  fatal  sisters 
when  the  capital  was  wanting  in  population  after  extreme  emigra- 
tions— an  act  of  favor  which  may  cut  two  ways ;  thus  Adrian  VI. 
(tutor  to  the  Spanish  Charles  V.)  approved  of  there  being  500 
medical  practitioners  in  the  Eternal  City,  because  otherwise  "  the" 
multitude  of  living  beings  would  eat  each  other  up."  However, 
when  his  turn  came  to  be  diminished,  the  grateful  people  sere- 
naded his  surgeon,  as  the  "  deliverer  of  the  country."  In  our 
days,  there  was  only  one  medical  man  admitted  by  the  Seville 
sangre  su,  the  best  or  noblest  set  (whose  blood  is  held  to  be  blue, 
of  which  more  anon)  when  in  rude  and  antiphlebotomical  health  ; 
and  every  stranger  was  informed  apologetically  by  the  exclusive 
Amphitryons  that  the  M.  D.  was  de  casa  conocida,  or  born  of  a 
good  family  ;  thus  his  social  introduction  was  owing  to  personal, 
not  professional  qualifications.  And  while  adventurers  of  every 
kind  are  betitled,  the  most  prodigal  dispenser  of  Spanish  honors 
never  dreams  of  making  his  doctor  even  a  titulado,  a  rank  some- 
what higher  than  a  pair  de  France,  and  lower  than  a  medical 
baronetage  in  England.  This  aristocratical  ban  has  confined 
doctors  much  to  each  other's  society,  which,  as  they  never  take 
each  other's  physic,  is  neither  unpleasant  nor  dangerous.  At 
Seville  the  medical  tertulia,  club  or  meeting,  was  appropriately 
held  at  the  apothecary's  shop  of  Campelos,  and  a  sable  junta  or 
consultation  it  was,  of  birds  of  bad  omen,  who  croaked  over  the 
general  health  with  which  the  city  was  afflicted,  praying,  like 
Sangrado  in  <  Gil  Bias,'  that  by  the  blessing  of  Providence  much 


MEDICAL  PRACTICE.  219 

sickness  might  speedily  ensue.  The  crowded  or  deserted  state  of 
this  rookery  was  the,  surest  evidence  of  the  hygeian  condition  of 
the  fair  capital  of  Bsetica,  and  one  which,  when  we  lived  there, 
we  have  often  anxiously  inspected ;  for,  whatever  be  the  pleasant- 
ries of  those  in  insolent  health,  when  sickness  brings  in  the 
doctor,  all  joking  is  at  an  end  ;  then  he  is  made  much  of  even  in 
Spain,  from  a  choice  of  evils,  and  for  fear  of  the  confessor  and 
undertaker. 

The  poor  in  no  countries  have  much  predilection  for  the  hospi- 
tal ;  and  in  Spain,  in  addition  to  pride,  which  everywhere  keeps 
many  silly  sick  out  of  admirably-conducted  asylums,  here  a  well- 
grounded  fear  deters  the  patient,  who  prefers  to  die  a  natural 
death.  Again,  from  their  being  poor,  the  necessity  of  their  living 
at  all,  is  less  evident  to  the  managers  than  to  the  sufferers ;  as, 
say  the  Malthusians,  there  is  no  place  vacant  at  Nature's  table 
d'hote  to  those  who  cannot  pay,  so  bed  and  board  are  not  pressed 
on  Spanish  applicants,  by  the  hospital  committee ;  an  admitted  pa- 
tient's death  saves  trouble  and  expense,  neither  of  which  are  pop- 
ular in  a  land  where  cash  is  scarce,  and  a  love  for  hard  work  not 
prevalent,  where  a  sound  man  is  worth  little,  and  a  sick  one  still 
less ;  nor  is  every  doctor  always  popular  for  working  cures,  as 
could  be  exemplified  in  sundry  cases  of  Spanish  wives  and  heirs 
in  general ;  therefore  in  the  hospitals  of  the  Peninsula,  if  only  half 
die,  it  is  thought  great  luck  :  the  dead,  moreover,  tell  no  tales,  and 
the  living  sing  praises  for  their  miraculous  escape.  El  medico 
lleva  la  plata,  pero  Dios  es  que  sana  ! — God  works  the  cure,  the 
doctor  sacks  the  fee !  Meanwhile  the  sextons  are  busy  and  merry, 
as  those  in  Hamlet,  and  as  indeed  all  gravediggers  are,  when  they 
have  a  job  on  hand  that  will  be  paid  for ;  deeply  do  they  dig  into 
the  silent  earth,  that  bourn  from  whence  no  travellers  return  to 
blab.  They  sing  and  jest,  while  dust  is  heaped  on  dust,  and  the 
corpus  delicti  covered,  and  with  it  the  blunders  of  the  medico  ;  thus 
all  parties,  the  deceased  excepted,  are  well  satisfied  ;  the  man  with 
the  lancet  is  content  that  disagreeable  evidence  should  be  put  out 
of  sight,  the  fellow-laborer  with  the  spade  is  thankful  that  con- 
stant means  of  living  should  be  afforded  to  him;  and  when  the 
funeral  is  over,  both  carry  out  the  proverbial  practice  of  Peninsu 


220  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

lar  survivors :  Los  muertos  en  la  liuesa,  y  los  vivos  a  la  mesa,  the 
dead  in  their  grave,  the  quick  to  their  dinner. 

But  at  no  period  were  Spaniards  careful  even  of  their  own 
lives,  and  much  less  of  those  of  others,  being  a  people  of  untender 
bowels.  Familiarity  with  pain  blunts  much  of  the  finer  feelings 
of  persons  employed  even  in  our  hospitals,  for  those  who  live  by 
the  dead  have  only  an  undertaker's  sympathy  for  the  living,  and 
are  as  dull  to  the  poetry  of  innocent  health,  as  Mr.  Giblet  is  to  a 
sportive  house-fed  lamb.  Matters  are  not  improved  in  Spain, 
where  the  wounds,  blood,  and  slaughterings  of  the  pastime  bull- 
fight, the  mueran  or  death  mob-cries,  and  paselepor  las  armas,  the 
shoot  him  on  the  spot,  the  Draco  and  Durango  decrees,  and  prac- 
tices of  all  in  power,  educate  all  sexes  to  indifference  to  blood  ; 
thus  the  fatal  knife-stab  or  surgeon's  cut  are  viewed  as  cosas  de 
Espana  and  things  of  course.  The  philosophy  of  the  general  in- 
difference to  life  in  Spain,  which  almost  amounts  to  Oriental  fa- 
talism, in  the  number  of  executions  and  general  resignation  to 
bloodshed,  arises  partly  from  life  among  the  many  being  at  best 
but  a  struggle  for  existence ;  thus  in  setting  it  in  the  cast,  the 
player  only  stakes  coppers,  and  when  one  is  removed,  there  is 
somewhat  less  difficulty  for  survivors  ;  hence  every  one  is  for  him- 
self and  for  to-day  ;  apres  moi  le  deluge,  el  ultimo  mono  se  ahoga, 
the  last  monkey  is  drowned,  or  as  we  say,  the  devil  takes  the  hind- 
most. 

The  neglect  of  well-supported,  well-regulated  hospitals,  has  re- 
coiled on  the  Spaniards.  The  rising  profession  are  deprived  of 
the  advantages  of  walking  them,  and  thus  beholding  every  nice 
difficulty  solved  by  experienced  masters.  Recently  some  efforts 
have  been  made  in  large  towns,  especially  on  the  coasts,  to  intro- 
duce reforms  and  foreign  ameliorations ;  but  official  jobbing  and 
ignorant  routine  are  still  among  the  diseases  that  are  not  cured  in 
Spain.  In  1811,  when  the  English  army  was  at  Cadiz,  a  physi- 
cian, named  Villarino,  urged  by  some  of  our  indignant  surgeons, 
brought  the  disgraceful  condition  of  Spanish  hospitals  before  the 
Cortes.  A  commission  was  appointed,  and  their  sad  report,  still 
extant,  details  how  the  funds,  food,  wine,  &c.,  destined  for  the  pa- 
tients were  consumed  by  the  managers  and  their  subalterns.  The 
results  were  such  as  might  be  expected ;  the  authorities  held  to- 


MEDICAL  ABUSES.  221 

gethei,  and  persecuted  Villarino  as  a  revolucionario,  or  reformer, 
and  succeeded  in  disgracing  him.  The  superintendent  of  this 
establishment  was  the  notorious  Lozano  de  Torres,  who  starved 
the  English  army  after  Talavera,  and  was  "  a  thief  and  a  liar," 
in  the  words  of  the  Duke.  The  Regency,  after  this  very  exposure 
of  his  hospital,  promoted  him  to  the  civil  government  of  old  Cas- 
tile; and  Ferdinand  VII.,  in  1817,  made  him  Minister  of  Justice. 
As  buildings,  the  hospitals  are  generally  very  large ;  but  the  space 
is  as  thinly  tenanted  as  the  unpeopled  wastes  of  Spain.  In  Eng- 
land wards  are  wanting  for  patients — in  Spain,  patients  for  wards 
The  names  of  some  of  the  greatest  hospitals  are  happily  chosen  ; 
that  of  Seville,  for  instance,  is  called  La  Sangre,  the  blood,  or 
Las  Cinco  Llagas,  the  five  bleeding  wounds  of  our  Saviour,  which 
are  sculptured  over  the  portal  like  bunches  of  grapes.  Blood  is 
an  ominous  name  for  this  house  and  home  of  Sangrado,  where 
the  lancet,  like  the  Spanish  knife,  gives  no  quarter.  In  instru- 
ments of  life  and  death,  this  establishment  resembles  a  Spanish 
arsenal,  being  wanting  in  everything  at  the  critical  moment  •  its 
dispensary,  as  in  the  shop  of  Shakspeare's  apothecary,  presented 
a  beggarly  account  of  empty  pill-boxes,  while  as  to  a  visiting 
Brodie,  the  part  of  that  Hamlet  was  left  out.  The  grand  hospital 
at  Madrid  is  called  el  general,  the  General,  and  the  medical  as- 
sistance is  akin  to  the  military  co-operation  of  such  Spanish 
generals  as  Lapena  arid  Venegas,  who  in  the  moment  of  need 
left  Graham  at  Barrosa,  and  the  Duke  at  Talavera,  without  a 
shadow  of  aid.  There  is  nothing  new  in  this,  if  the  old  proverb 
tells  truth,  socorros  de  Espana,  o  tarde  o  nunca  ;  Spanish  suc- 
cors arrive  late  or  never.  In  cases  of  battle,  war,  and  sudden 
death  as  in  peace,  the  professional  men,  military  or  medical,  are 
apt  to  assist  in  the  meaning  of  the  French  word  assister,  which 
signifies  to  be  present  without  taking  any  part  in  what  is  going 
on.  And  this  applies,  where  knocks  on  the  head  are  concerned, 
not  to  the  medical  men  only,  but  to  the  universal  Spanish  nation ; 
when  any  one  is  stabbed  in  the  streets,  he  will  infallibly  bleed 
to  death,  unless  the  authorities  arrive  in  time  to  pick  him  up, 
and  to  bind  up  his  wounds  :  every  one  else — 'Englishmen  exoepted, 
we  describe  things  witnessed — passes  on  the  other  side  ;  not  from 
any  fear  at  the  sight  of  blood,  nor  abhorrence  of  murder,  but 


222  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


from  the  dread  which  every  Spaniard  feels  at  the  very  idea  of 
getting  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  La  Justicia,  whose  ministers 
lay  hold  of  all  who  interfere  or  are  near  the  body  as  principals 
or  witnesses,  and  Spanish  justice,  if  once  it  gets  a  man  into  its 
fangs,  never  lets  him  go  until  drained  of  his  last  farthing. 

The  schools  and  hospitals,  especially  in  the  inland  remote  cities, 
are  very  deficient  in  all  improved  mechanical  appliances  and  mo- 
dern discoveries,  and  the  few  which  are  to  be  met  with  are  mostly 
of  French  and  second-rate  manufacture.  It  is  much  the  same  with 
their  medical  treatises  and  technical  works ;  all  is  a  copy,  and  a  bad 
one ;  it  has  been  found  to  be  much  easier  to  translate  and  borrow 
than  to  invent;  therefore,  as  in  modern  art  and  literature,  there 
is  little  originality  in  Spanish  medicine.  It  is  chiefly  a  veneering 
of  other  men's  ideas,  or  an  adaptation  of  ancient  and  Moorish 
science.  Most  of  their  terms  of  medicinal  art,  as  well  as  of  drugs, 
jalea,  elixir,  jarave,  rob,  sorbete,  julepe,  &c.,  are  purely  Arabic, 
and  indicate  the  sources  from  whence  the  knowledge  was  obtained, 
for  there  is  no  surer  historical  test  than  language  of  the  origin 
from  whence  the  knowledge  of  the  science  was  derived  with  its 
phraseology ;  and  whenever  Spaniards  depart  from  the  daring  ways 
of  their  ancestors,  it  is  to  adopt  a  timid  French  system.  The  few 
additions  to  their  medical  libraries  are  translations  from  their 
neighbors,  just  as  the  scanty  materia  medica  in  their  apotheca- 
ries' shops  is  rendered  more  dangerous  and  ineffective  by  quack 
nostrums  from  Paris.  It  is  a  serious  misfortune  to  sanative 
science  in  the  Peninsula,  that  all  that  is  known  of  the  works  of 
thoughtful,  careful  Germany,  of  practical,  decided  England,  is 
passed  through  the  unfair,  inaccurate  alembic  of  French  transla- 
tion ;  thus  the  original  becomes  doubly  deteriorated,  and  the 
sacred  cosmopolitan  cause  of  truth  and  fact  is  too  often  sacrificed 
to  the  Gallic  mania  of  suppressing  both,  for  the  honor  of  their 
own  country.  Can  it  be  wondered,  therefore,  that  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  Spanish  faculty  with  modern  works,  inventions,  and 
operations  is  very  limited,  or  that  their  text-books  and  authorities 
should  too  often  be  still  Galen.  Celsus,  Hippocrates,  and  Boer- 
haave  ?  The  names  of  Hunter,  Harvey,  and  Astley  Cooper,  are 
scarcely  more  known  among  their  M.D.'s  than  the  last  discove- 


LUNATIC   ASYLUMS.  -223 

ries  of  Herschel ;  the  light  of  such  distant  planets  has  not  had 
time  to  arrive. 

To  this  day  the  Colegio  de  San  Carlos,  or  the  College  of 
Surgeons  of  Madrid,  relies  much  or.  teaching  the  obstetric  art 
by  means  of  wax  preparations  ;  but  learning  a  trade  on  paper  is 
not  confined  in  Spain  to  medical  students ;  the  great  naval 
school  at  Seville  is  dedicated  to  San  Telmo,  who,  uniting  in 
himself  the  attributes  of  the  ancient  Castor  and  Pollux,  appears 
in  storms  at  the  mast-head  in  the  form  of  lights  to  rescue  seamen. 
Hence,  whenever  it  comes  on  to  blow,  the  pious  crews  of  Spanish 
crafts  fall  on  their  knees,  and  depend  on  this  marine  Hercules, 
instead  of  taking  in  sail,  and  putting  the  helm  up.  Our  tars, 
who  love  the  sea  propter  se,  for  better  for  worse,  having  no  San 
Telmo  to  help  them  in  foul  weather  (although  the  somewhat 
irreverent  gunner  of  the  Victory  did  call  him  of  Trafalgar 
Saint  Nelson),  go  to  work  and  perform  the  miracle  themselves 
— aide  toi,  et  le  del  t'aidera.  In  our  time,  the  middies  in  this 
college  were  taught  navigation  in  a  room,  from  a  small  model  of 
a  three-decker  placed  on  a  large  table  ;  and  thus  at  least  they  were 
not  exposed  to  sea-sickness.  The  Infant  Antonio,  Lord  High 
Admiral  of  Spain,  was  walking  in  the  Retire  gardens  near  the 
pond,  when  it  was  proposed  to  cross  in  a  boat;  he  declined, 
saying,  "  Since  I  sailed  from  Naples  to  Spain  I  have  never  ven- 
tured on  water."  But,  in  this  and  some  other  matters,  things 
are  managed  differently  on  the  Thames  and  the  Baetis.  Thus, 
near  Greenwich  Hospital,  a  floating  frigate,  large  as  life,  is  the 
school  of  young  chips  of  old  blocks,  who  every  day  behold  in  the 
veterans  of  Cape  St.  Vincent  and  Trafalgar  living  examples  of 
having  "done  their  duty."  The  evidence  of  former  victories 
thus  becomes  a  guarantee  for  the  realization  of  their  young  hopes, 
and  the  future  is  assured  by  the  past. 

Next  to  the  barracks,  prisons,  arsenals,  and  fortresses  of  Spain, 
the  establishments  for  suffering  mortality  are  the  least  worth 
seeing,  and  are  the  most  to  be  avoided  by  wise  travellers,  who  can 
indulge  in  much  better  specimens  at  home.  This  assertion  will 
be  better  understood  by  a  sketch  or  two  taken  on  the  spot  a  few 
years  ago.  The  so-called  asylums  for  lunatics  are  termed  in 
Spanish  hospitales  de  locos,  a  word  derived  from  the  Arabic, 


224  .          THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

locao,  mad ;  they,  like  the  cognate  Morostans  (^wooc)  of  Cairo, 
were  generally  so  mismanaged,  that  the  directors  appeared  to  be 
only  desirous  of  obtaining  admission  themselves.  Insanity  seemed 
to  derange  both  the  intellects  of  the  patients  and  to  harden  the 
bowels  of  their  attendants,  while  the  usual  misappropriation  of 
the  scanty  funds  produced  a  truly  reckless,  makeshift,  wretched 
result.  There  was  no  attempt  at  classification,  which  indeed  is 
no  thing  of  Spain.  The  inmates  were  crowded  together, — the 
monomaniac,  the  insane,  the  raving  mad, — in  one  confusion  of 
dirt  and  misery,  where  they  howled  at  each  other,  chained  like 
wild  beasts,  and  were  treated  even  worse  than  criminals,  for  the 
passions  of  the  most,  outrageous  were  infuriated  by  the  savage 
lash.  There  was  not  even  a  curtain  to  conceal  the  sad  necessi- 
ties of  these  human  beings,  then  reduced  to  animals:  everything 
was  public  even  unto  death,  whose  last  groan  was  mingled  with 
the  frantic  laugh  of  the  surviving  spectators.  In  some  rare  cases 
the  bodies  of  those  whose  minds  are  a  void,  were  confined  in 
solitary  cells  with  no  other  companions  save  affliction.  Of  these, 
many,  when  first  sent  there  by  friends  and  relations  to  be  put  out 
of  the  way,  were  not  mad,  soon  indeed  to  become  so,  as  solitude, 
sorrow,  and  the  iron  entered  their  brain.  These  establishments, 
which  the  natives  ought  to  hide  in  shame,  were  usually  among 
the  first  lions  which  they  forced  on  the  stranger,  and  especially 
on  the  Englishman,  since,  holding  our  worthy  countrymen,  to  be 
all  locos,  they  naturally  imagined  that  they  would  be  quite  at 
home  among  the  inmates. 

They,  in  common  with  many  others  on  the  Continent,  entertain 
a  notion  that  all  Britons  bold  have  a  bee  in  their  bonnet ;  they 
think  so  on  many,  and  perhaps  not  always  unreasonable,  grounds. 
They  see  them  preferring  English  ways,  sayings,  and  doings,  to 
their  own,  which  of  itself  appears  to  a  Spaniard,  as  to  a  French- 
man, to  be  downright  insanity.  Then  our  countrymen  tell  the 
truth  in  bulletins,  use  towels,  and  remove  superfluous  hairs  daily. 
And  letting  alone  other  minor  exhibitions  of  eccentricity,  are  not 
the  natives  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  guilty  of  three  ac- 
tions, any  one  of  which  would  qualify  for  Bedlam  if  the  Lord 
Chancellor  were  to  issue  a  writ  de  lunatico  inquirendo ! — have 


FOUNDLING  HOSPITALS.  225 

they  not  bled  for  Spain,  in  purse  and  person,  on  the  battle-field, 
on  the  railroad,  in  the  Stock  Exchange  ? — 

"  Oh  tribus  Antyceris  caput  insanabile  !" 

To  return,  however,  to  Spanish  madmen  and  their  hospitals, 
the  sight  was  a  sad  one,  and  alike  disgraceful  to  the  sane,  and 
degrading  to  the  insane  native.  The  wild  maniacs  implored  a 
"  loan"  from  the  foreigner,  for  from  their  own  countrymen  they 
had  received  a  stone.  A  sort  of  madness  is  indeed  seldom  want- 
ing to  the  frantic  energy  and  intense  eagerness  of  all  Spanish 
mendicants ;  and  here,  albeit  the  reasoning  faculties  were  gone, 
the  national  propensity  to  beg  and  borrow  survived  the  wreck  of 
intellect,  and  in  fact  it  was  and  is  the  indestructible  "  common 
sense"  of  the  country. 

There  was  generally  some  particular  patient  whose  aggravated 
misery  made  him  or  her  the  especial  object  of  cruel  curiosity. 
Thus,  at  Toledo,  in  1843,  the  keepers  (fit  wild  beast  term)  al- 
ways conducted  strangers  to  the  cage  or  den  of  the  wife  of  a  cele- 
brated Captain-General  and  first-rate  fusilier  of  Catalonia,  an 
officer  superior  in  power  to  our  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  She 
was  permitted  to  wallow  in  naked  filth,  and  be  made  a  public 
show.  The  Moors,  at  least,  do  not  confine  their  harmless  female 
maniacs,  who  wander  naked  through  the  streets,  while  the  men 
are  honored  as  saints,  whose  minds  are  supposed  to  be  wandering 
in  heaven.  The  old  Iberian  doctors,  according  to  Pliny,  professed 
to  cure  madness  with  the  herb  vettonica,  and  hydrophobia  with 
decoction  of  the  cynorrhodon  or  dog-rose-water,  as  being  doubly, 
unpalateable  to  the  rabid  canine  species.  The  modern  Spaniards 
seemed  only  to  desire,  by  ignorance  and  ill-usage,  to  darken  any 
lucid  interval  into  one  raving  uniformity. 

,The  foundling  hospitals  were,  when  we  last  examined  them, 
scarcely  better  managed  than  the  lunatic  asylums ;  they  are 
called  casas  de  espositos,  houses  of  the  exposed — or  la  Cuna,  the 
cradle,  as  if  they  were  the  cradle,  not  the  coffin,  of  miserable  in- 
fants. Most  large  cities  in  Spain  have  one  of  those  receptacles ; 
the  principal  being  in  the  Levitical  towns,  and  the  natural  fruit 
of  a  rich  celibate  clergy,  both  regular  and  secular.  The  Cuna 
in  our  time  might  have  been  defined  as  a  place  where  innocents 


226  THE  SPANIAR  )S  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

were  massacred,  and  natural  children  deserted  by  their  unnatural 
parents  were  provided  for  by  being  slowly  starved.  These  hos- 
pitals were  first  founded  at  Milan  in  787,  by  a  priest  named 
Datheus.  That  of  Seville,  which  we  will  describe,  was  estab- 
lished by  the  clergy  of  the  cathedral,  and  was  managed  by  twelve 
directors,  six  lay  and  six  clerical ;  few,  however,  attended  or  con- 
tributed save  in  subjects.  The  hospital  is  situate  in  the  Calle  de 
la  Cuna  ;  near  an  aperture  left  for  charitable  donations,  is  a  mar- 
ble tablet  with  this  verse  from  the  Psalms,  inscribed  in  Latin, 
"  When  my  father  and  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will 
take  me  in." 

A  wicket  door  is  pierced  in  the  wall,  which  opens  on  being 
tapped  to  admit  the  sinless  children  of  sin ;  and  a  nurse  sits  up 
at  night  to  receive  those  exposed  by  parents  who  hide  their  guilt 
in  darkness. 

"  Toi  que  P  amour  fit  par  un  crime, 

Et  que  Pamour  defait  par  un  crime  a  son  tour, 
Funeste  ouvrage  de  Pamour, 
De  Pamour  funeste  victime." 

Some  of  the  babies  are  already  dying,  and  are  put  in  here  in 
order  to  avoid  the  expense  of  a  funeral ;  others  are  almost  naked, 
while  a  few  are  well  supplied  with  linen  and  necessaries.  These 
latter  are  the  offspring  of  the  better  classes,  by  whom  a  tempo- 
rary concealment  is  desired.  With  such  the  most  affecting  let- 
ters are  left,  praying  the  nurses  to  take  more  than  usual  care  of 
a  child  which  will  surely  be  one  day  reclaimed,  and  a  mark  or 
ornament  is  usually  fastened  to  the  infant,  in  order  that  it  may 
be  identified  hereafter,  if  called  for,  and  such  were  the  precise 
customs  in  antiquity.  Every  particular  regarding  every  exposed 
babe  is  registered  in  a  book,  which  is  a  sad  record  of  human 
crime  and  remorse. 

Those  children  which  are  afterwards  reclaimed,  pay  about  six- 
pence for  every  day  during  which  the  hospital  has  maintained 
them  ;  but  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  appeals  for  particular 
care,  or  to  the  promise  of  redemption,  for  Spaniards  seldom  trust 
each  other.  Unless  some  name  is  sent  with  it.  the  child  is  bap- 
tized with  one  given  by  the  raatron,  and  it  usually  is  that  of  the 


FOUNDLING  HOSPITAL  AT  SEVILLE.  227 

saint  of  the  day  of  its  admission.  The  number  was  very  great, 
and  increased  with  increasing  povert}7",  while  the  funds  destined 
to  support  the  charges  decreased  from  the  same  cause.  There  is 
a  certain  and  great  influx  nine  months  after  the  Holy  week  and 
Christmas,  when  the  whole  city,  male  and  female,  pass  the  night 
in  kneeling  to  relics  and  images,  &c.  ;  accordingly  nine  months 
afterwards,  in  January  and  November,  the  daily  numbers  often 
exceed  the  usual  average  by  fifteen  to  twenty. 

There  is  always  a  supply  of  wet  nurses  at  the  Cuna,  but  they 
are  generally  such  as  from  bad  character  cannot  obtain  situa- 
tions in  private  families  ;  the  usual  allotment  was  three  children 
to  one  nurse.  Sometimes,  when  a  respectable  woman  is  looking 
out  for  a  place  as  wet-nurse,  and  is  anxious  not  to  lose  her  breast 
of  milk,  she  goes,  in  the  meanwhile,  to  the  Cuna,  when  the  poor 
child  who  draws  it  off  plumps  up  a  little,  and  then,  when  the 
supply  is  withdrawn,  withers  and  dies.  The  appointed  nurses 
dole  out  their  milk,  not  according  to  the  wants  of  the  infants,  but 
to  make  it  do  for  their  number.  Some  few  are  farmed  out  to 
poor  mothers  who  have  lost  their  own  babe ;  they  receive  about 
eight  shillings  a  month,  and  these  are  the  children  which  have 
the  best  chance  of  surviving,  for  no  woman  who  has  been  a 
mother,  and  has  given  suck,  will  willingly,  when  left  alone,  let 
an  infant  die.  The  nurses  of  the  Cuna  were  familiar  with  starva- 
tion, and  even  if  their  milk  of  human  kindness  were  not  dried  up 
or  soured,  they  have  not  the  means  of  satisfying  their  hungry 
number.  The  proportion  who  died  was  frightful ;  it  was  indeed 
an  organized  system  of  infanticide.  Death  is  a  mercy  to  the 
child,  and  a  saving  to  the  establishment ;  a  grown-up  man's  life 
never  was  worth  much  in  Spain,  much  less  that  of  a  deserted 
baby.  The  exposure  of  children  to  immediate  death  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  was  a  trifle  less  cruel  than  the  protracted 
dying  in  these  Spanish  charnel-houses.  This  Cuna,  when-  last 
we  visited  it,  was  managed  by  an  inferior  priest,  who,  a  true 
Spanish  unjust  steward,  misapplied  the  funds.  He  became  rich, 
like  Gil  Bias's  overseer  at  Valladolid,  by  taking  care  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  poor  and  fatherless  ;  his  well-garnished  quarters  and 
portly  self  were  in  strange  contrast  with  the  conditions  of  his 
wasted  charges.  Of  these,  the  sick  and  dying  were  separated 


228  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

from  the  healthy  ;  the  former  were  placed  in  a  large  room,  once 
the  saloon  of  state,  whose  gilded  roof  and  fair  proportions  mocked 
the  present  misery.  The  infants  were  laid  in  rows  on  dirty  mat- 
tresses, along  on  the  floor,  and  were  left  unheeded  and  unat- 
tended. Their  large  heads,  shrivelled  necks,  hollow  eyes,  and 
wax  wan  figures,  were  shadowed  with  coming  death.  Called  into 
existence  by  no  wish  or  fault  of  their  own,  their  brief  span  was 
run  out  ere  begun,  while  their  mother  was  far  away  exclaiming, 
"  When  I  have  sufficiently  wept  for  his  birth,  I  will  weep  for  his 
death." 

Those  who  were  more  healthy  lay  paired  in  cradles  arranged 
along  a  vast  room ;  but  famine  was  in  their  cheeks,  need  starved 
in  their  eyes,  and  their  shrill  cry  pained  the  ear  on  passing  the 
threshold  ;  from  their  being  underfed,  they  were  restless  and  ever 
moaning.  Their  existence  has  indeed  begun  with  a  sob,  with  El 
primer  sottozo  de  la  Cuna,  the  first  sigh  of  the  cradle,  as  Rioja 
says,  but  all  cry  when  entering  the  world,  while  many  leave  it 
with  smiles.  Some,  the  newly  exposed,  just  parted  from  their 
mother's  breast,  having  sucked  their  last  farewell,  looked  plump 
and  rosy  ;  they  slept  soundly,  blind  to  the  future,  and  happily  un- 
conscious  of  their  fate. 

About  one  in  twelve  survived  to  idle  about  the  hospital,  ill  clad, 
ill  fed,  and  worse  taught.  The  boys  were  destined  for  the  army, 
the  girls  for  domestic  service,  nay,  for  worse,  if  public  report  did 
not  wrong  their  guardian  priest.  They  grow  up  to  be  selfish  and 
unaffectionate ;  having  never  known  what  kindness  was,  their 
young  hearts  closed  ere  they  opened  ;  "  the  world  was  not  their 
friend,  nor  the  world's  law."  It  was  on  their  heads  that  the  bar- 
ber learned  to  shave,  and  on  them  were  visited  the  sins  of  their 
parents ;  having  had  none  to  care  for  them,  none  to  love,  they  re- 
venged themselves  by  hating  mankind.  Their  occupation  con- 
sisted in  speculating  on  who  their  parents  may  be,  and  whether 
they  should  some  day  be  reclaimed  and  become  rich.  A  few  oc- 
casionally are  adopted  by  benevolent  and  childless  persons,  who, 
visiting  the  Cuna,  take  a  fancy  to  an  interesting  infant ;  but  the 
child  is  liable  ever  after  to  be  given  up  to  its  parents,  should  they 
reclaim  it.  Townshend  mentions  an  Oriental  custom  at  Barce- 
lona, where  the  girls  when  marriageable  were  paraded  in  proces- 


MEDICAL  PRETENSIONS.  229 

sion  through  the  streets,  and  any  desirous  of  taking  a  wife  was  at 
liberty  to  select  his  object  by  "  throwing  his  handkerchief."  This 
Spanish  custom  still  prevails  at  Naples, 

Such  was  the  Cuna  of  Seville  when  we  last  beheld  it.  It  is 
now,  as  we  have  recently  heard  with  much  pleasure,  admirably 
conducted,  having  been  taken  in  charge  by  some  benevolent  ladies, 
who  here  as  elsewhere  are  the  best  nurses  and  guardians  of  man 
in  his  first  or  second  infancy,  not  to  say  of  every  intermediate 
stage. 

Our  readers  will  concur  in  deeming  that  wight  unfortunate 
who  falls  ill  in  Spain,  as,  whatever  be  his  original  complaint,  it  is 
too  often  followed  by  secondary  and  worse  symptoms,  in  the  shape 
of  the  native  doctor;  and  if  the  judgment  passed  by  Spaniards  on 
that  member  of  society  be  true,  Esculapius  cannot  save  the  inva- 
lid from  the  crows  ;  the  faculty  even  at  Madrid  are  little  in  ad- 
vance of  their  provincial  colleagues,  nay,  often  they  are  more 
destructive,  since,  being  practitioners  in  the  only  court,  the  hea- 
ven on  earth,  they  are  in  proportion  superior  to  the  medical  men 
of  the  rest  of  the  world,  of  whom  of  course  they  can  learn  noth- 
ing. They  are,,  however,  at  least  a  century  behind  their  brother 
professors  of  England.  An  unreasonable  idea  of  self-excellence 
arises  both  in  nations  and  in  individuals,  from  having  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  relative  merits  of  others,  and  from  having  few  grounds 
or  materials  whereon  to  raise  comparison  ;  it  exists  therefore  the 
strongest  among  the  most  uninformed  and  those  who  mix  the  least 
in  the  world.  Thus  in  spite  of  manifold  deficiencies,  some  of 
which  will  be  detailed,  the  self-esteem  of  these  medical  men  ex- 
ceeds, if  possible,  that  of  the  military ;  both  have  killed  their 
"  ten  thousands."  They  hold  themselves  to  be  the  first  salreurs, 
physicians,  and  surgeons  on  earth,  and  the  best  qualified  to  wield 
the  shears  of  the  Parcse.  It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  try  to 
dispel  this  fatal  delusion  ;  the  well-intentioned  monitor  would  sim- 
ply be  set  down  as  malevolent,  envious,  and  an  ass  ;  for  they 
think  their  ignorance  the  perfection  of  human  skill.  Few  for- 
eigners can  ever  hope  to  succeed  among  them,  nor  can  any  native 
who  may  have  studied  abroad,  easily  introduce  a  better  system  : 
his  elder  brethren  would  make  common  cause  against  him  as  an 
innovator  ;  he  would  be  summoned  to  no  consultations,  the  most 


230  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


lucrative  branch  of  practice,  while  the  confessors  would  poison 
the  ears  of  the  women  (who  govern  the  men)  with  cautions  against 
the  danger  to  their  souls,  of  having  their  bodies  cured  by  a  Jew, 
a  heretic,  or  a  foreigner,  for  the  terms  are  almost  convertible. 

Meanwhile,  as  in  courts  of  justice  and  other  matters  in  Spain, 
all  sounds  admirably  on  paper — the  forms,  regulations,  and  sys- 
tem are  perfect  in  theory.  Colleges  of  physicans  and  surgeons 
superintend  the  science,  the  professors  are  members  of  infinite 
learned  societies,  lectures  are  delivered,  examinations  are  con- 
ducted, and  certificates  duly  signed  and  sealed,  are  given.  The 
young  Galenista  is  furnished  with  a  licence  to  kill,  but  what  is 
wanting  from  beginning  to  end,  to  practitioner  and  patient,  is  life. 
The  medical  men  know,  nevertheless,  every  aphorism  of  the  an- 
cients by  rote,  and  discourse  as  eloquently  and  plausibly  on  any 
case  as  do  their  ministers  in  Cortes.  Both  write  capital  theories 
and  opinions  extemporaneously.  Their  splendid  language  sup- 
plies words  which  seem  to  have  cost  thought.  What  is  deficient 
is  that  clinical  and  best  of  education  where  the  case  is  brought 
before  the  student  with  the  corollary  of  skilful  treatment :  acci- 
dental deaths  are  consequently  more  common  than  cures. 

Dissection  again  is  even  now  repulsive  to  their  Oriental  preju- 
dices •  the  pupils  learn  rather  by  plates,  diagrams,  models,  pre- 
parations, and  skeletons,  than  from  anatomical  experiments  on  a 
subject.  As  among  the  ancients  and  in  the  East  to  this  day  an 
idea  is  prevalent  among  the  masses  in  Spain,  that  the  touch  of  a 
dead  body  pollutes ;  nor  is  the  objection  raised  by  the  clergy,  that 
it  savors  of  impiety  to  mutilate  a  form  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
yet  exploded.  It  will  be  remembered  by  our  medical  readers,  if 
we  have  any,  that  Vezalius,  the  father  of  modern  anatomy,  when 
at  Madrid  was  demanded  by  the  Inquisition  from  Philip  II.,  to  be 
burnt  for  having  performed  an  operation.  The  king  sent  him  to 
expiate  his  sin  by  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land  •  he  was  ship- 
wrecked, and  died  of  starvation  at  Zante. 

Can  it  be  wondered  at,  with  such  a  theoretical  education,  that 
practice  should  continue  to  be  antiquated,  classical,  and  Oriental, 
and  necessarily  very  limited  ?  In  difficult  cases  of  compound 
fracture,  gun-shot  wounds,  the  doctors  give  the  patient  up  almost 
at  once,  although  they  continue  to  meet  and  take  fees,  until  death 


FAMILY   PHYSICIAN.  231 

relieves  him  of  his  complicated  sufferings.  In  chronic  cases  and 
slighter  fractures  they  are  less  dangerous  \  for  as  their  pottering 
remedies  do  neither  good  nor  harm,  the  struggle  for  life  and  death 
is  left  to  nature,  who  sometimes  works  the  cure.  In  acute  dis- 
eases and  inflammations  they  seldom  succeed ;  for  however  fond 
of  the  lancet,  they  only  nibble  with  the  case,  and  are  scared  at 
the  bold  decided  practice  of  Englishmen,  whereat  they  shrug  up 
shoulders,  invoke  saints,  and  descant  learnedly  on  the  impossibil- 
ity of  treating  complaints  under  the  bright  sun  and  warm  air  of 
Catholic  Spain,  after  the  formulae  of  cold,  damp,  and  foggy,  here- 
tical England. 

Most  Spaniards  who  can  afford  it  have  their  family  or  bolster 
doctor,  the  Mexico  de  Cabecera,  and  their  confessor.  This  pair 
take  care  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  the  whole  house,  bring  them 
gossip,  share  their  puchero,  purse,  and  tobacco.  They  rule  the 
husband  through  the  women  and  the  nursery,  nor  do  they  allow 
their  exclusive  privileges  to  be  infringed  on.  Etiquette  is  the  life 
of  a  Spaniard,  and  often  his  death,  since  every  one  has  heard  (the 
Spaniards  swear  it  is  all  a  French  lie)  that  Philip  III.  was  killed 
rather  than  violate  a  form.  He  was  seated  too  near  the  fire,  and, 
although  burning,  of  course  as  king  of  Spain  the  impropriety  of 
moving  himself  never  entered  his  head,  and  when  he  requested 
one  of  his  attendants  to  do  so,  none^  in  the  absence  of  the  proper 
officer  whose  duty  it  was  to  superintend  the  royal  chair,  ventured 
to  take  that  improper  liberty.  In  case  of  sudden  emergencies 
among  her  Catholic  Majesty's  subjects,  unless  the  family  doctor 
be  present,  any  other  one.  even  if  called  in,  generally  declines 
acting  until  the  regular  Esculapius  arrives.  An  English  medi- 
cal friend  of  ours  saved  a  Spaniard's  life  by  chancing  to  arrive 
when  the  patient,  in  an  apoplectic  fit,  was  foaming  at  the  rnouth 
and  wrestling  with  death  ;  all  this  time  a  strange  doctor  was  sit- 
ting quietly  in  the  next  room  smoking  his  cigar  at  the  brasero,  the 
chafing-dish,  with  the  women  of  the  family.  Our  friend  instantly 
took  thirty  ounces  from  the  sufferer's  arm,  not  one  of  the  Spanish 
party  even  moving  from  their  seats.  Thus  Apollo  preserved  him  ! 
The  same  medical  gentleman  happened  to  accidentally  call  on  a 
person  who  had  an  inflammation  in  the  cornea  of  the  eye :  on 
questioning  he  found  that  many  consultations  had  been  previously 


232  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

held,  at  which  no  determination  was  come  to  until  at  the  last, 
when  sea-bathing  was  prescribed,  with  a  course  of  asses'  milk 
and  Chiclana  snake-broth ;  our  heretical  friend,  who  lacked  the 
true  faith,  just  touched  the  diseased  part  with  caustic.  When 
this  application  was  reported  at  the  next  consultation,  the  native 
doctors  all  crossed  themselves  with  horror  and  amazement,  which 
was  increased  when  the  patient  recovered  in  a  week. 

As  a  general  rule  at  the  first  visit,  they  look  as  wise  as  possible, 
shake  their  heads  before  the  women,  and  always  magnify  the  com- 
plaint, which  is  a  safe  proceeding  all  over  the  world,  since  all 
physicians  can  either  kill  or  cure  the  patient ;  in  the  first  event 
they  get  .greater  credit  and  reward,  while  in  the  other  alternative, 
the  disease,  having  been  beyond  the  reach  of  art,  bears  the  blame. 
The  medicos  exhibit  considerable  ingenuity  in  prolonging  an  ap- 
parent necessity  for  a  continuance  of  their  visits.  A  common  in- 
terest induces  them  to  pull  together — a  rare  exception  in  Spain — 
and  play  into  each  other's  hands.  The  family  doctor,  whenever 
appearances  will  in  anywise  justify  him,  becomes  alarmed,  and 
requires  a  consultation,  a  Junta.  Whatever  any  Spanish  Junta 
is  in  affairs  of  peace  or  war  need  not  be  explained  ;  and  these  are 
like  the  rest,  they  either  do  nothing,  or  what  they  do  do,  is  done 
badly.  At  these  meetings  from  three  to  seven  Medicos  de  apela- 
cion,  consulting  physicians,  attend,  or  more,  according  to  the  pa- 
tient's purse  :  each  goes  to  the  sick  man,  feels  his  pulse,  asks  him 
some  questions,  and  then  retires  to  the  next  room  to  consult,  gen- 
erally allowing  the  invalid  the  benefit  of  hearing  what  passes. 
The  Protomedico,  or  senior,  takes  the  chair  •  and  while  all  are 
lighting  their  cigars,  the  family  doctor  opens  the  case,  by  stating 
the  birth,  parentage,  and  history  of  the  patient,  his  constitution, 
the  complaint,  and  the  medicines  hitherto  prescribed.  The  senior 
next  rises,  and  gives  his  opinion,  often  speaking  for  half  an  hour ; 
the  others  follow  in  their  rotation,  and  then  the  Protomedico,  like 
a  judge,  sums  up,  going  over  each  opinion  with  comments :  the 
usual  termination  is  either  to  confirm  the  previous  treatment,  or 
make  some  insignificant  alteration  :  the  only  certain  thing  is  to 
appoint  another  consultation  for  the  next  day,  for  which  the  fees 
are  heavy,  each  taking  from  three  to  five  dollars.  The  consulta 


PRESCRIPTIONS.  233 


tion  often  lasts  many  hours,  and  becomes  at  last  a  chronic  com- 
plaint. 

It  must  be  said,  in  justice  to  these  able  practitioners,  that  as  a 
body  they  are  careful  in  their  dress :  external  appearance,  not  to 
say  finery  in  apparel,  raises  in  the  eyes  of  the  many,  a  profession 
which  here  is  of  uncertain  social  standing.  On  the  same  princi- 
ple how  careful  is  the  costume,  how  brilliant  are  the  shirt-studs 
of  foreign  fiddlers  when  in  England  !  The  worthy  Andalucian 
doctor  of  our  Spanish  family,  and  an  efficient  one,  as  two  of  his 
patients  now  at  rest  could  testify,  never  paid  a  visit  except  when 
gaily  attired.  So  the  Matador,  when  he  enters  the  arena  to  kill 
a  bull,  is  clad  as  a  first-rate  dandy  majo.  This  attention  to  per- 
son arises  partly  from  the  Moro-Ibero  love  of  ostentation,  and 
partly  from  sound  Galenic  principles  and  a  high  sense  of  profes- 
sional duty.  The  ancient  authorities  enforced  on  the  practitioner 
an  attention  to  everything  which  created  cheerful  impressions,  in 
order  that  he  might  arrive  at  the  patient's  pillow  like  a  messen- 
ger of  good  tidings,  and  as  a  minister  of  health,  not  of  death. 
They  held  that  a  grave  costume  might  suggest  unpleasant  asso- 
ciations to  the  sick  man.  Raven-colored  undertaker  tights,  and  a 
funereal,  cadaverous  look  to  match,  are  harbingers  of  blue  devils 
and  black  crape,  which  no  man,  even  when  in  blessed  health, 
contemplates  with  comfort ;  while  the  effect  of  such  a  fades  hip- 
pocratica  staring  in  the  face  of  a  poor  devil  whose  life  is  despaired 
of,  must  be  fatal. 

The  prescriptions  of  these  well-dressed  gentleman  are  some- 
what more  old-fashioned  than  their  coats.  Their  grand  recipe  in 
the  first  instance  is  to  do  nothing  beyond  taking  the  fee  and  leav- 
ing nature  alone,  or,  as  the  set  phrase  has  it,  dejar  a  la  naturaleza. 
The  young,  and  those  whose  constitutions  are  strong  and  whose 
complaints  are  weak,  do  well  under  the  healing  influence  of  their 
kind  nurse  Nature,  and  recover  through  her  vis  medicatrix,  which, 
if  not  obstructed  by  art,  everywhere  works  wonderful  cures.  The 
Sangrado  will  say  that  a  Spanish  man  or  woman  is  more  marvel- 
lously made  than  a  clock,  inasmuch  as  his  or  her  machinery  has 
a  power  in  itself  to  regulate  its  own  motions,  and  to  repair  acci- 
dents ;  and  therefore  the  watchmaker  who  is  called  in,  need  not 
be  in  a  hurry  to  take  it  to  pieces  when  a  little  oiling  and  cleaning 


234  THE   SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 


may  set  all  to  rights.  The  remedies,  when  the  proper  time  for 
their  application  arrives,  are  simple,  and  are  sought  for  rather 
among  the  vegetables  of  the  earth's  surface  than  from  the  mine- 
rals in  its  bowels.  The  external  recipes  consist  chiefly  of  papers 
smeared  with  lard,  applied  to  the  abdomen,  sinapisms  and  mustard 
poultices  to  the  feet,  fomentations  of  marsh  mallows  or  camomile 
flowers,  and  the  aid  of  the  curate.  The  internal  remedies,  the 
tisanes,  the  Leches  de  Almendras,  de  Surras,  decoctions  of  rice, 
and  so  forth,  succeed  each  other  in  such  regular  order,  that  the 
patient  scholar  has  nothing  to  do  but  repeat  the  medical  passage 
in  Horace's  '  Satires.'  In  no  country,  however,  can  all  the  sick 
be  always  expected  to  recover  even  then,  since  "  Para  todo  hay 
remedio,  sino  para  la  muerte" — "  There  is  a  remedy  for  everything 
except  death."  If  by  chance  the  patient  dies,  the  doctor  and  the 
disease  bear  the  blame.  Perhaps  the  old  Iberian  custom  was  the 
safest ;  then  the  sick  were  exposed  outside  their  doors,  and  the 
advice  of  casual  passengers  was  asked,  whose  prescriptions  were 
quite  as  likely  to  answer  as  images,  relics,  snake-soup,  or  milk  of 
almonds  or  asses  : — 

"  And,  doctor,  do  you  really  think 
That  asses'  milk  I  ought  to  drink  ? 
It  cured  yourself,  I  grant,  is  true, 
But  then  't  was  mother's  milk  to  you."  . 

Nor,  if  the  doctors  knew  how  to  prescribe  them,  are  the  nicer  and 
most  efficacious  remedies,  the  preparations  of  modern  chemical 
science,  to  be  procured  in  any  except  the  very  largest  towns ;  al- 
though, as  in  Romeo's  apothecary,  "  the  needy"  shelves  are  filled 
with  empty  boxes  "  to  make  a  show."  The  trade  of  a  druggist 
is  anything  but  free,  and  the  numbers  are  limited  ;  none  may  open 
a  Botica  without  a  strict  examination  and  licence ;  although,  of 
course,  this  is  to  be  had  for  money.  None  may  sell  any  potent 
medicine,  except  according  to  the  prescription  of  some  local  medi- 
cal man  ;  everything  is  a  monopoly.  The  commonest  drugs  are 
often  either  wanting  or  grossly  adulterated,  but,  as  in  their  arse- 
nals and  larders,  no  dispenser  will  admit  such  destitution ;  hay  de 
todo,  I  have  everything,  swears  he,  and  gallantly  makes  up  the 
prescription  simply  by  substituting  other  ingredients ;  and  as  the 
correct  ones  nine  times  out  often  are  harmless,  no  great  injury  is 


SNAKE  BROTH.  <*  235 


sustained.  There  is  nothing  new  in  this,  for  Quevedo,  in  his  Za- 
hurdas  de  Pluton,  or  Satan's  Pigsties,  introduces  a  yellow-faced 
bilious  judge  scourging  Spanish  apothecaries  for  doing  exactly 
the  same,  "  Hence  your  shops,"  quoth  he,  for  he  both  preached 
and  flogged,  "  are  arsenals  of  death,  whose  ministers  here  get 
their  pills  (balls  rather)  which  banish  souls  from  the  earth ;"  but 
these  and  other  things  have  been  long  done  with  impunity,  as 
Pliny  said,  no  physician  was  ever  hung  for  murder.  One  advan- 
tage of  general  distrust  in  drugs  and  doctors  is,  that  the  great 
masses  of  the  people  think  very  little  about  them  or  their  com- 
plaints :  thus  they  escape  all  fancied  and  imaginary  complaints, 
which,  if  indulged  in,  become  chronic,  and  more  difficult  to  cure 
than  those  afflicting  the  body — for  who  can  minister  to  a  mind 
diseased?  Again,  from  this  want  of  confidence  in  remedies, 
very  little  physic  at  all  is  taken ;  owing  to  this  limited  demand, 
druggists'  shops  are  as  rare  in  Spain  as  those  of  booksellers.  No 
red,  green,  or  blue  bottles  illuminate  the  streets  at  night,  and  there 
are  more  of  these  radiant  orbs  in  the  Fore  street  of  the  capital  of 
the  west  of  England,  than  in  the  whole  capital  of  the  Spains,  albeit 
with  a  population  six  times  greater.  It  is  true  that,  at  Madrid, 
feeding  on  plum-pudding,  diluted  with  sour  cider  and  clotted 
cream,  is  not  habitual. 

Many  of  the  prescriptions  of  Spain  are  local,  and  consist  of 
some  particular  spring,  some  herb,  some  animal,  or  some  partic- 
ular air,  or  place,  or  bath  is  recommended,  which,  however,  is 
said  to  be  very  dangerous,  unless  some  resident  local  medico  be 
first  consulted.  One  example  is  as  good  as  a  thousand:  near 
Cadiz  is  Chiclana,  to  which  the  faculty  invariably  transport  those 
patients  whom  they  cannot  cure,  that  is,  about  ninety-five  in  the 
hundred  ;  so  in  chronic  complaints,  sea-bathing  there  is  prescribed, 
with  a  course  of  asses'  milk;  and  if  that  fail,  then  a  broth  made 
of  a  long,  harmless  snake,  which  abounds  in  the  aromatic  wastes 
near  Barrosa.  We  have  forgotten  the  generic  name  of  this  val- 
uable reptile  of  Esculapius,  one  of  which  our  naturalists  should 
take  alive,  and  either  breed  from  it  in  the  Regent's  Park,  or  at 
least  investigate  his  comparative  anatomy  with  those  exquisite 
vipers  which  rrake,  as  we  have  shown,  such  delicious  pork  at 
Montanches. 


236  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

We  cannot  refrain  from  giving  one  more  prescription.  Many 
of  the  murders  in  Spain  should  rather  be  called  homicides,  being 
free  from  malice  prepense,  and  caused  by  the  readiness  of  the  na- 
tional cuchillo,  with  which  all  the  lower  classes  are  armed  like 
wasps ;  it  is  thus  always  at  hand,  when  the  blood  is  most  on  fire, 
and  before  any  refrigeratory  process. commences.  Thus,  where 
an  unarmed  Englishman  closes  his  fist,  a  Spaniard  opens  his  knife. 
This  rascally  instrument  becomes  fatal  in  jealous  broils,  when  the 
lower  classes  light  their  anger  at  the  torch  of  the  Furies,  and  pre- 
fer using,  to  speaking  daggers.  Then  the  thrust  goes  home :  and 
however  unskilled  the  regular  Sangrados  may  be  in  anatomy  and 
handling  the  scalpel,  the  universal  people  know  exactly  how  to 
manage  their  knife  and  where  to  plant  its  blow ;  nor  is  there  any 
mistake,  for  the  wound,  although  not  so  deep  as  a  well,  nor  so 
wide  as  a  church  door,  "  't  will  serve."  It  is  usually  given  after 
the  treacherous  fashion  of  their  Oriental  and  Iberian  ancestors, 
and  if  possible  by  a  stab  behind,  and  "  under  the  fifth  rib;"  and 
"  one  blow"  is  enough.  The  blade,  like  the  cognate  Arkansas  or 
Bowie  knife  of  the  Yankees,  will  "  rip  up  a  man  right  away,"  or 
drill  him  until  a  surgeon  can  see  through  his  body.  The  number 
killed  on  great  religious  and  other  festivals,  exceeds  those  of  most 
Spanish  battles  in  the  field,  although  the  occurrence  is  scarcely 
noticed  in  the  newspapers,  so  much  is  it  a  matter  of  course  :  but 
crimes  which  call  forth  a  second  edition  and  double  sheet  in  our 
papers,  are  slurred  over  on  the  continent,  for  foreigners  conceal 
what  we  most  display. 

In  minor  cases  of  flirtation,  where  capital  punishment  is  not 
called  for,  the  offending  party  just  gashes  the  cheek  of  the  peccant 
one.  and  suiting  the  word  to  the  action,  observes,  "  ya  estas  sena- 
laa  ;"  "  Now  you  are  marked."  This  is  precisely  winkel  quarte, 
the  gash  in  the  cheek,  which  is  the  only  salve  for  the  touchy  hon- 
or of  a  German  student,  when  called  ein  dummer  junge,  a  stupid 
youth : — 


"  Und  ist  die  quart  gesessen 
So  ist  der  touche  vergessen." 


Again,  "  Mira  que  te  pego,  mira  que  te  mato,"  "  Mind  I  don't 
strike  thee — mind  I  don't  kill  thee  ;"  are  playful  fondling  expres- 


THE   PARISH   DOCTOR.  237 


sions  of  a  Maja  to  a  Majo.  When  this  particular  gash  is  only 
threatened,  the  Seville  phrase  was,  "  Mira  que  te  pinto  un  jabe- 
que  j"  "  Take  care  that  1  don't  draw  you  a  xebeck"  (the  sharp 
Mediterranean  felucca).  "  They  jest  at  wounds  who  never  felt 
a  scar,"  but  whenever  this  jabeque  has  really  been  inflicted,  the 
patient,  ashamed  of  the  stigma,  and  not  having  the  face  to  show 
himself  or  herself,  is  naturally  anxious  to  recover  a  good  char- 
acter and  skin,  which  only  one  cosmetic,  one  sovereign  panacea, 
can  effect.  This  in  Philip  IV. 's  time  was  cat's  grease,  which 
then  removed  such  superfluous  marks ;  while  Don  Quixote  con- 
sidered  the  oil  of  Apariccio  to  be  the  only  cure  for  scratches  in- 
flicted by  female  or  feline  claws. 

In  process  of  time,  as  science  advanced,  this  was  superseded 
by  Unto  del  liombre,  or  man's  grease.  Our  estimable  friend  Don 
Nicolas  Molero,  a  surgeon  in  high  practice  at  Seville,  assured 
us  that  previously  to  the  French  invasion  he  had  often  prepared 
this  cataleptic  specific,  which  used  to  be  sold  for  its  weight  in  gold, 
until,  having  been  adulterated  by  unprincipled  empirics,  it  fell 
into  disrepute.  The  receipt  of  the  balsam  of  Fierabras  has  puz- 
zled the  modern  commentators  of  Don  Quixote,  but  the  kindness 
of  Don  Nicolas  furnished  us  with  the  ingredients  of  this  pommade 
divine,  or  rather  morta/e.  "  Take  a  man  in  full  health  who  has 
been  just  killed,  the  fresher  the  better,  pare  off  the  fat  round  the 
heart,  melt  it  over  a  slow  fire,  clarify,  and  put  it  away  in  a  cool 
place  for  use."  The  multitudinous  church  ceremonies  and 
holidays  in  Spain,  which  bring  crowds  together,  combined  with 
the  sun,  wine,  and  women,  have  always  ensured  a  supply  of  fine 
subjects. 

In  Spain,  as  elsewhere,  the  doctor  mania  is  an  expensive 
amusement,  which  the  poor  and  more  numerous  class,  especially 
in  rural  localities,  seldom  indulge  in.  Like  their  mules,  they 
are  rarely  ill,  and  they  only  take  to  their  beds  to  die.  They 
have,  it  is  true,  a  parish  doctor,  to  whom  certain  districts  are  ap- 
portioned ;  when  he  in  his  turn  succumbs  to  death,  or  is  other- 
wise removed,  the  vacancy  is  usually  announced  in  the  newspa- 
pers, and  a  new  functionary  is  often  advertised  for.  His  trifling 
salary  is  made  up  of  payments  in  money  and  in  kind,  so  much 
in  corn  and  so  much  in  cash  ;  the  leading  principle  is  cheapness, 


238  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

and,  as  in  our  new  poor-law,  that  proficient  is  preferred,  who 
will  contract  to  do  for  the  greatest  number  at  the  smallest  charge. 
His  constituents  decline  sometimes  to  place  full  confidence  in  his 
skill  or  alacrity :  they  oftener  do  consult  the  barber,  the  quack, 
or  curandero ;  for  there  is  generally  in  orthodox  Spain  some 
charlatan  wherever  sword,  rosary,  pen,  or  lancet  is  to  be  wielded. 
The  nostrums,  charms,  relics,  incantations,  &c.,  to  which  re- 
course is  had,  when  not  mediaeval,  are  scarcely  Christian  ;  but 
the  spiritual  pharmacopoeia  of  this  land  of  Figaro  is  far  too  im- 
portant to  form  the  tail-piece  of  any  chapter. 


SPIRITUAL   REMEDIES  FOR  THE   BODY.  239 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

Spanish  Spiritual  Remedies  for  the  Body — Miraculous  Relics — Sanative 
Oils — Philosophy  of  Relic  Remedies — Midwifery  and  the  Cinta  of  Tor- 
tosa— Bull  of  Crusade. 

THE  Reverend  Dr.  Fernando  Castillo,  an  esteemed  Spanish 
author  and  teacher,  remarks,  in  his  luminous  life  of  St.  Dome- 
nick,  that  Spain  has  been  so  bountifully  'provided  by  heaven  with 
fine  climate,  soil,  and  extra  number  of  saints,  that  his  country- 
men are  prone  to  be  idle  and  to  neglect  such  rare  advantages. 
Certainly  they  may  not  dig  and  delve  so  deeply  as  is  done  in 
lands  less  favored,  but  the  reproach  of  omitting  to  call  on  Hercu- 
les to  do  their  work,  or  of  not  making  the  most  of  Santiago  in 
any  bodily  dilemma,  is  a  somewhat  too  severe  reproach  :  nowhere 
in  case  of  sickness  have  the  saving  virtues  of  relics,  and  the  ad- 
jurations of  holy  monks,  been  more  implicitly  relied  on. 

As  our  learned  readers  well  know,  the  medical  practice  of  the 
ancients  was,  as  that  of  the  Orientals  still  is,  more  peculiar  than 
scientific.  When  disease  was  thought  to  be  a  divine  punishment 
for  sin,  it  was  held  to  be  wicked  to  resist  by  calling  in  human 
aid  :  thus  Asa  was  blamed,  and  thus  Moslems  and  Spaniards 
resign  themselves  to  their  fate,  distrusting,  and  very  properly, 
their  medical  men  :  u  Am  I  a  god,  to  kill  or  make  alive  ?"  In 
the  large  towns,  in  these  days  of  progress,  some  patients  may 
"  suffer  a  recovery"  according  to  European  practice  ;  but  in  the 
country  and  remote  villages, — and  we  speak  from  repeated  per- 
sonal experience, — the  good  old  reliance  on  relics  and  charms  is 
far  from  exploded  ;  and  however  Dr.  Sangrado  and  Philip  III., 
whose  decrees  on  medical  matters  yet  adorn  the  Spanish  statutes 
at  large,  deplore  the  introduction  of  perplexing  chemistry,  mine- 
ral therapeuticals  still  remain  a  considerable  dead  letter,  as  the 
church  has  transferred  the  efficacy  of  faith  from  spiritual  to  tem- 
poral concerns,  and  gun-shot  wounds.  Even  Ponz,  the  Lysons 


240  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

of  Spain,  and  before  the  Inquisition  was  abolished,  ventured  to 
express  -surprise  at  the  number  of  images  ascribed  to  St.  Luke, 
who,  says  he,  was  not  a  sculptor,  but  a  physician,  whence  possi- 
bly their  sanative  influence.  The  old  Iberians  were  great  her- 
balist doctors  ;  thus  those  who  had  a  certain  plant  in  their  houses, 
were  protected,  as  a  blessed  palm  branch  now  wards  off  light- 
ning. They  had  also  a  drink  made  of  a  hundred  herbs,  and 
hence  called  centum  herba,  a  bebida  de  cien  h'erbas,  which,  like 
Morison's  vegetable  pills,  cured  every  possible  disease,  and  was 
so  palatable  that  it  was  drunk  at  banquets,  which  modern  physic 
is  not ;  moreover,  according  to  Pliny,  they  cured  the  gout  with 
flour,  and  relieved  elongated  uvulas  by  hanging  purslain  round 
the  patient's  throat.  So  now  the  curas  y  curanderos,  country  cu- 
rates and  quacks,  furnish  charms  and  incantations,  just  as  Ulys- 
ses stopped  his  bleeding  by  cantation  :  a  medal  of  Santiago  cures 
the  ague,  a  handkerchief  of  the  Virgin  the  ophthalmia,  a  bone 
of  San  Magin  answers  all  the  purposes  of  mercury,  a  scrap  of 
San  Frutos  supplied  at  Segovia  the  loss  of  common  sense  •  the 
Virgin  of  Ona  destroyed  worms  in  royal  Infantes,  and  her  sash 
at  Tortosa  delivers  royal  Infantas.  Every  Murcian  peasant  be- 
lieves that  no  disease  can  affect  him  or  his  cattle,  if  he  touches 
them  with  the  cross  of  Caravaca,  which  angels  brought  from 
heaven  and  placed  on  a  red  cow.  When  we  were  last  at  Man- 
resa,  the  worthy  man  who  showed  the  cave  in  which  Loyola  the 
founder  of  the  Jesuits  did  penance  for  a  year,  increased  an  hon- 
est livelihood  by  the  sale  of  its  pulverized  stones,  that  were  swal- 
lowed by  the  faithful  in  cases  in  which  an  English  doctor  would 
prescribe  Dover's  or  James's  powders.  Every  province,  not  to 
say  parish,  has  its  own  tutelar  saint  and  relic,  which  are  much 
honored  and  resorted  to  in  their  local  jurisdiction,  and  very  little 
thought  of  out  of  it,  their  power  to  cure  having  been  apparently 
granted  to  them  by  Santiago,  as  a  commission  to  commit  is  by 
Queen  Victoria  to  a  magistrate,  whose  authority  does  not  extend 
beyond  the  county  bounds.  Zaragoza  was  admirably  provided : 
a  portion  of  the  liver  of  Santa  Engracia  was  anciently  resorted 
to,  in  cases  where  blue  pill  would  be  beneficial ;  the  oil  of  her 
lamps,  which  never  smoked  the  ceilings,  cured  lamparones,  or  tu- 
mors in  the  neck,  while  that  which  burnt  before  the  Virgen  del 


COSTUME  OF   CONVALESCENTS.  241 

Pilar,  or  the  image  of  the  Virgin  which  came  down  from  heaven 
on  a  pillar,  restored  lost  legs  ;  Cardinal  de  Retz  mentions  in  his 
Memoirs  having  seen  a  man  whose  wooden  substitutes  became 
needless  when  the  originals  grew  again  on  being  rubbed  with  it ; 
and  this  portent  was  long  celebrated  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  as 
well  it  deserved,  by  an  especial  holiday,  for  Macassar  oil  cannot 
do  much  more.  This  graven  image  is  at  this  moment  the  object 
of  popular  adoration,  and  disputes  even  with  the  worship  of  to- 
bacco and  money  :  countless  are  the  mendicants,  the  halt,  blind, 
and  the  larne,  who  cluster  around  her  shrine,  as  the  equally  af- 
flicted ancients,  with  whom  physicians  were  in  vain,  did  around 
that  of  Minerva  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  cures  worked 
are  almost  incredible. 

It  may  be  said  that  all  this  is  a  raking  up  of  remnants  of 
mediaeval  superstition  and  darkness,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
medical  men  in  Madrid  and  the  larger  towns,  and  especially 
those  who  have  studied  at  Paris,  do  not  place  implicit  confidence 
in  these  spiritual,  nor  indeed  in  any  other  purely  Spanish  reme- 
dies; but  their  tried  medicinal  properties  are  set  forth  at  length 
in  scores  of  Spanish  county  and  other  histories  which  we  have 
the  felicity  to  possess,  all  of  which  have  passed  the  scrutinizing 
ordeal  of  clerical  censors,  and  have  been  approved  of  as  contain- 
ing nothing  contrary  to  the  creed  of  the  Church  of  Rome  or  good 
customs ;  nor  can  it  be  permitted  that  a  church  which  professes 
to  be  always  one,  the  same,  and  the  only  true  one,  should  at  its 
own  convenience  "  turn  its  back  on  itself,"  and  deny  its  own 
drugs  and  doctrines.  Nothing  is  set  down  here  which  was  not 
perfectly  notorious  under  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  VII. ;  and 
whatever  the  doctors  of  physic  or  theology  may  now  disbelieve 
in  Spain,  more  reliance  is  still  placed,  in  the  rural  districts, 
where  foreign  civilization  has  not  penetrated,  on  miracles  than  on 
medicines. 

We  have  often  and  often  seen  little  children  in  the  streets 
dressed  like  Franciscan  monks — Cupids  in  cowls — whose  pious 
parents  had  vowed  to  clothe  them  in  the  robes  of  this  order,  pro- 
vided its  sainted  founder  preserved  their  darlings  during  measles 
or  dentition.  Nothing  was  more  common  than  that  women,  nay, 
ladies  in  good  society,  should  appear  for  a  year  in  a  particular 

.  PART  TT.  12 


242  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

religious  dress,  called  el  habito,  or  with  some  religious  badge  on 
their  sleeves  in  token  of  similar  deliverance.  One  instance  in 
our  time  amused  all  the  tertuiias  of  Seville,  who  maliciously 
attributed  the  sudden  relief  which  a  fair  high-born  unmarried 
invalid  experienced  from  an  apparent  dropsical  complaint  to  causes 
not  altogether  supernatural ;  Pues,  Don  Ricardo,  li  and  so,  Mas- 
ter Richard,"  would  her  friends  of  the  same  age  and  rank  often 
say,  "you  are  a  stranger;  go  and  ask  dearest  Esperanto,  why 
she  wears  the  Virgin  of  Carmel ;  come  back  and  let  us  know  her 
story,  and  we  will  tell  you  the  real  truth."  Vaya  !  vaya!  Don 
Ricardo,  usled  es  muy  majadero, — "  Go  to,  Master  Richard,  your 
Grace  is  an  immense  bore,"  replied  the  penitent,  if  she  suspected 
the  authors  and  motive  of  the  embassy. 

The  pious  in  antiquity  raised  temples  to  Minerva  medica  or 
Esculapius,  as  Spaniards  do  altars  to  Na.  Senora  de  los  Reme- 
dios,  our  Lady  of  the  Remedies,  and  to  San  Roque,  whose  inter- 
vention renders  "  sound  as  a  roach,"  a  proverb  devised  in  his 
honor  by  our  ancestors,  who,  before  the  Reformation,  trusted 
likewise  to  him ;  and  both  thought,  if  Cicero  is  to  be  credited, 
that  these  tutelars  did  at  least  as  much  as  the  doctor.  Alas  !  for 
the  patient  credulity  of  mankind,  which  still  gulps  down  such 
medicinal  quackery  as  all  this,  and  which  long  will  continue  to 
do  so  even  were  one  of  the  dead  to  rise  from  the  grave,  to  de- 
precate the  absurd  treatment  by  which  he  and  so  many  have  been 
sacrificed. 

However,  by  way  of  compensation,  the  saving  the  soul  has 
been  made  just  as  primary  a  consideration  in  Spain  as  the  curing 
the  body  has  been  in  England.  These  relics,  charms,  and  amulets 
represent  our  patent  medicines :  and  the  wonder  is  how  any  one 
in  Great  Britain  can  be  condemned  to  death  in  this  world,  or  how 
any  one  in  the  Peninsula  can  be  doomed  to  perdition  in  the  next : 
possibly  the  panaceas  are  in  neither  case  quite  specific.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  how  numerous  and  well  appointed  are  the  churches 
and  convents  there,  compared  to  the  hospitals ;  how  amply  pro- 
vided the  relic-magazine  with  bones  and  spells,  when  compared 
to  the  anatomical  museums  and  chemists'  shops  ;  again,  what  a 
flock  of  holy  practitioners  come  forth  after  a  Spaniard  has  been 
stabbed,  starved,  or  executed,  not  one  of  whom  would  have  stir- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF   RELICS.  243 

red  a  step  to  save  an  army  of  his  countrymen  when  alive ;  and 
what  coppers  are  now  collected  to  pay  masses  to  get  his  soul  out 
of  purgatory ! 

Beware,  nevertheless,  gentle  Protestant  reader,  of  dying  in 
Spain,  except  in  Cadiz  or  Malaga,  where,  if  you  are  curious  in 
Christian  burial,  there  is  snug  lying  for  heretics  ;  and  for  your 
life  avoid  being  even  sick  at  Madrid,  since  if  once  handed  over  to 
the  faculty  make  thy  last  testament  forthwith,  as  if  the  judgment 
passed  on  their  own  doctors  by  Spaniards  be  true,  Esculapius 
can  not  save  thee  from  the  crows :  avoid  the  Spanish  doctors 
therefore  like  mad  dogs,  and  throw  their  physic  after  them. 

The  masses  and  many  in  Spain  have  their  own  tutelars  and 
refuges  for  the  destitute ;  the  kings  and  queens — whom  God 
preserve ! — have  their  own  especial  patroness  by  prerogative,  in 
the  image  of  the  Virgin  of  Atocha  at  Madrid,  which  they  and  the 
rest  of  the  royal  family  visit  every  Sunday  in  the  year  when  in 
royal  health.  No  sooner  was  the  sovereign^  taken  dangerously  ill, 
and  the  court  physicians  at  a  loss  what  to  do,  as  sometimes  is  the 
case  even  in  Madrid,  than  the  image  used  to  be  brought  to  his 
bedside ;  witness  the  case  of  Philip  III.,  thus  described  by  Bas- 
sompierre  in  his  dispatch  : — u  Les  medecins  en  desesperent  depuis 
ce  matin  que  1'on  a  commence  a  user  des  remedes  spirituels,  et 
faire  transporter  au  palais  I'image  de  N.  D.  de  Athoche."  The 
patient  died  three  days  after  the  image  was  sent  for. 

Although  neither  priest  nor  physician  might  credit  the  sanative 
properties  of  rags  and  relics,  they  gladly  called  them  in,  for  if  the 
case  then  went  wrong,  how  could  mortal  man  be  expected  to  suc- 
ceed when  the  supernatural  remedy  had  failed  ?  All  inquests  in 
awkward  cases  are  hushed  up  by  ascribing  the  death  to  the  visi- 
tation of  God.  Again,  if  a  relic  does  not  always  cure  it  rarely 
kills,  as  calomel  has  been  known  to  do.  This  interruptive 
principle,  one  distinct  from  human  remedies,  is  admitted  by  the 
church  in  the  prayers  for  sick  persons  ;  and  where  faith  is  sincere, 
even  relics  must  offer  a  powerful  moral  medical  cordial,  by  acting 
on  the  imagination,  and  giving  confidence  to  the  patient.  This 
chance  is  denied  to  the  poor  Protestant,  nay,  even  to  a  newly-con- 
verted tractarian,  for  truly,  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  a  monkish 
bone,  the  lesson  must  have  been  learnt  in  the  nursery.  Their 


244  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

substitute  in  Lutheran  lands,  in  partibus  infidelium,  is  found  in 
laudanum,  news,  and  gossip ;  the  latter  being  the  grand  specific 
by  which  Sir  Henry  kept  scores  of  dowagers  alive,  to  the  despair 
of  jointure-paying  sons,  from  marquises  down  to  baronets ;  and 
how  real  comfort  is  conveyed  by  the  gentle  whisper,  "  Your 
ladyship  can  not  conceive  what  an  interest  his  or  her  Royal 

Highness  the  takes  *in  your  ladyship's  convalescence !" 

The  form  of  the  moral  restorative  will  vary  according  to  climate, 
creeds,  manners,  &c. ;  it  is  to  the  substance  alone  that  the  philo- 
sophical physician  will  look.  That  chord  must  be  touched,  be  it 
what  it  may,  to  which  the  pulse  of  the  patient  will  respond ;  nor, 
provided  he  is  recovered,  do  the  means  much  signify. 

One  word  only  on  Spanish  midwifery.  There  is  a  dislike  to 
male  accoucheurs,  and  the  midwife,  or  comadre,  generally  brings 
the  Spaniard  into  the  world  by  the  efforts  of  nature  and  the  aid  of 
manteca  de  puerco,  or  hogs'  lard,  a  launching  appropriate  enough 
to  a  babe,  who,  if  it  survives  to  years  of  discretion,  will  assu- 
redly love  bacon.  The  newly-born  is  then  wrapped  up,  like  an 
Egyptian  mummy,  and  is  carefully  protected  from  fresh  air,  soap, 
and  water ;  an  amulet  is  then  hung  round  its  neck  to  disarm  the 
evil  eye,  or  some  badge  of  the  Virgin  is  to  ensure  good  luck  : 
thus  the  young  idea  is  taught  from  the  cradle,  what  errors  are  to 
be  avoided  and  what  safeguards  are  to  be  clung  to,  lessons  which 
are  seldom  forgotten  in  after-life.  Without  entering  further  into 
baby  details,  the  scanty  population  of  the  Peninsula  may  in  some 
measure  be  thus  accounted  for. .  Parturition  also  is  frequently  fa- 
tal ;  in  ordinary  cases  the  midwife  does  very  well,  but  when  a 
difficulty  arises  she  loses  her  head  'and  patient.  It  is  in  these 
trying  moments,  as  in  the  critical  operations  of  the  kitchen,  that 
a  male  artiste  is  preferable. 

The  Queens  and  Infantas  of  Spain  have  additional  advantages. 
The  palladium  of  the  city  of  Tortosa  is  the  cinta*  or  girdle, 
which  the  Virgin,  accompanied  by  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
brought  herself  from  heaven  to  a  priest  of  the  cathedral  in  1178  ; 
an  event  in  honor  of  which  a  mass  is  still  said  every  second  Sun- 
day in  October.  The  gracious  gift  was  declared  authentic  in 

*  Hallarse  en  Cinta  is  the  Spanish  equivalent  for  our  "  being  in  the 
family  way." 


SPIRITUAL  AIDS   TO   ACCOUCHEMENT.  245 

1617,  by  Paul  V.,  and  to  justify  his  infallibility  it  works  every  sort 
of  miracle,  especially  in  obstetric  cases  ;  it  is  also  brought  out  to 
defend  the  town  on  all  occasions  of  public  calamity,  but  failed  in 
the  case  of  Suchet's  attack.  This  girdle,  more  wonderful  than 
the  cestus  of  Venus,  was  conveyed  in  1822,  by  Ferdinand  VII.  Js 
command,  in  solemn  procession  to  Aranjuez,  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  accouchement  of  the  two  Infantas,  and  as  Lucina  when  duly 
invoked  favored  women  in  travail,  so  their  Royal  Highnesses 
were  happily  delivered,  and  one  of  the  babes  then  born,  is  the 
husband  of  Isabel  II.  For  humbler  Castilian  women,  when  preg- 
nant, a  spiritual  remedy  was  provided  by  the  canons  of  Toledo, 
who  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  many  of  the  cases.  The  grand 
entrance  to  the  cathedral  had  thirteen  steps,  and  all  females  who 
ascended  and  descended  them  ensured  an  early  and  easy  time  of 
it.  No  wonder  therefore,  when  these  steps  were  reduced  to  the 
number  of  seven,  that  the  greatest  possible  opposition  should  have 
been  made  by  the  fair  sex,  married  and  unmarried.  All  these 
things  of  Spain  are  rather  Oriental  ;  and  to  this  day  the  Barbary 
Moors  have  a  cannon  at  Tangiers  by  which  a  Christian  ship  was 
sunk,  and  across  this  their  women  sit  to  obtain  an  easy  delivery. 
In  all  ages  and  countries  where  the  science  of  midwifery  has 
made  small  progress,  it  is  natural  that  some  spiritual  assistance 
should  be  contrived  for  perils  of  such  inevitable  recurrence  as 
childbirth.  The  panacea  in  Italy  was  the  girdle  of  St.  Margaret, 
which  became  the  type  of  this  Cinta  of  Tortosa,  and  it  was  re- 
sorted to  by  the  monks  in  all  cases  of  difficult  parturition.  It 
was  supposed  to  benefit  the  sex,  because  when  the  devil  wished  to 
eat  up  St.  Margaret,  the  Virgin  bound  him  with  her  sash,  and  he 
became  tame  as  a  lamb.  This  sash  brought  forth  sashes  also,  and 
in  the  17th  century  had  multiplied  so  exceedingly,  that  a  travel- 
ler affirmed  "  if  all  were  joined  together,  they  would  reach  all 
down  Cheapside  ;"  but  the  natural  history  of  relics  is  too  well 
known  to  be  enlarged  upon. 

Any  account  of  Spanish  doctors  without  a  death,  would  be  dull 
as  a  blank  day  with  fox-hounds,  although  the  medical  man,  differ- 
ing from  the  sportsman,  dislikes  being  in  at  it.  He,  the  moment 
the  fatal  sisters  three  are  running  into  their  game,  slips  out,  and 
leaves  the  last  act  to  the  clergyman  :  hence  the  Spanish  saying, 


246  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

"  when  the  priest  begins,  the  physician  ends."  It  is  related  in 
the  history  of  Don  Quixote,  that  no  sooner  did  the  barber  feel  the 
poor  knight's  wrist,  than  he  advised  him  to  attend  to  his  soul  and 
send  for  his  confessor  ;  and  now,  when  a  Castilian  hidalgo  takes 
to  his  bed,  his  friends  pursue  much  the  same  course,  nor  does  the 
catastrophe  often  differ.  Lord  Bacon,  great  in  wise  saws  and 
instances,  prayed  that  his  death  might  come  from  Spain,  because 
then  it  would  be  long  on  the  journey  ;  but  he  was  not  aware  that 
the  gentleman  in  black  formed  an  exception  to  the  proverbial  pro- 
crastination and  dilatoriness  of  their  fellow  countrymen.  As  pa- 
tients are  soon  dispatched,  the  law*  of  the  land  subjects  every 
physician  to  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  maravedis  who  fails  after  his 
first  visit  to  prescribe  confession1;  the  chief  object  in  sickness  be- 
ing, as  the  preamble  states,  to  cure  the  soul ;  and  so  it  is  in  Italy, 
where  Gregory  XVI.  issued  in  1845  three  decrees  ;  one  to  for- 
bid railroads,  another  to  prohibit  scientific  meetings,  and  a  third 
to  order  all  medical  menvto  cease  to  attend  invalids  who  had  not 
sent  for  the  priest  and  communicated  after  the  third  visit.  In 
Spain,  the  first  question  asked  in  our  time  of  the  sick  man  was, 
not  whether  he  truly  repented  of  his  sins,  but  whether  he  had  got 
the  Bull ;  and  if  the  reply  was  in  the  negative,  or  his  old  nurse 
had  omitted  to  send  out  and  buy  one,  the  last  sacraments  were 
denied  to  the  dying  wretch. 

One  word  on  this  wonderful  Bull,  that  disarms  death  of  its 
sting,  and  which,  although  few  of  our  readers  may  ever  have 
heard  of  it,  plays  a  far  more  important  part  in  the  Peninsula  than 
the  quadruped  does  in  the  arena.  Fastings  are  nowhere  more 
strictly  enjoined  than  here,  where  Lent  represents  the  Ramadan 
of  the  Moslem.  The  denials  have  been  mitigated  to  those  faith- 
ful who  have  good  appetites,  by  the  paternal  indulgence  of  their 
holy  father  at  Rome,  who,  in  consideration  that  it  was  necessary 
to  keep  the  Spanish  crusaders  in  fighting  condition  in  order  more 
effectually  to  crush  the  infidel,  conceded  to  Saint  Ferdinand  the 
permission  that  his  army  might  eat  meat  rations  during  Lent,  pro- 
vided there  were  any,  for,  to  the  credit  of  Spanish  commissariats 
in  general,  few  troops  fast  more  regularly  and  religiously.  The 
auspicious  day  on  which  the  arrival  is  proclaimed  of  this  welcome 
#  Recopilacion;  Lib.  iii  Tit.  xvi.  Ley  3. 


BULL  OF   CRUSADE.  247 

bull  that  announces  dinner,  is  celebrated  by  bells  merry  as  at  a 
marriage  feast ;  in  the  provincial  cities  mayors  and  corporations 
go  to  cathedral  in  what  is  called  state,  to  the  wonder  of  the  mob 
and  amusement  of  their  betters  at  the  resurrection  of  quiz 
coaches,  the  robes,  maces,  and  obsolete  trappings,  by  which  these 
shadows  of  a  former  power  and  dignity  hope  to  mark  individual 
and  collective  insignificancy.  A  copy  of  this  precious  Bull  can- 
not of  course  be  had  for  nothing,  and  as  it  must  be  paid  for,  and 
in  ready  money,  it  forms  one  of  the  certain  branches  of  public 
income.  Although  the  proceeds  ought  to  be  expended  on  cru- 
sading purposes,  Ferdinand  VII.,  the  Catholic  King,  and  the  only 
sovereign  in  possession  of  such  a  revenue,  never  contributed  one 
mite  towards  the  Christian  Greeks  in  their  recent  struggle  against 
the  Turkish  unbelievers. 

These  bulls,  or  rather  paper-money  notes,  are  prepared  with 
the  greatest  precautions,  and  constituted  one  of  the  most  profitable 
articles  of  Spanish  manufacture ;  a  maritime  war  with  England 
was  dreaded,  not  so  much  from  regard  to  the  fasting  transatlantic 
souls,  as  from  the  fear  of  losing,  as  Dr.  Robertson  has  shown,  the 
sundry  millions  of  dollars  and  silver  dross  remitted  from  America, 
in  exchange  for  these  spiritual  treasures.  They  were  printed  at 
Seville,  at  the  Dominican  convent,  the  Porta  co&li ;  but  Souit, 
who  now  it  appears  is  turning  devotee,  burnt  down  this  gate  of 
heaven,  with  its  passports,  and  the  presses.  The  bulls  are  only 
good  for  the  year  during  which  they  are  issued;  after  twelve 
months  they  become  stale  and  unprofitable.  There  is  then,  says 
Blanco  White,  and  truly,  for  we  have  often  seen  it,  "  a  prodigious 
hurry  to  obtain  new  ones  by  all  those  who  wish  well  to  their 
souls,  and  do  not  overlook  the  ease  and  comfort  of  their  stomachs." 
A  fresh  one  must  be  annually  taken  out,  like  a  game-certificate, 
before  Spaniards  venture  to  sport  with  flesh  or  fowl,  and  they 
have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  it  does  not  cost  three  pounds  odd  : 
for  the  sum  of  dos  reales,  or  less  than  sixpence,  man,  woman,  and 
child,  may  obtain  the  benefit  of  clergy  and  cookery ;  but  evil  be- 
tides the  uncertificated  poacher,  treadmills  for  life  are  a  farce, 
perdition  catches  his  soul.  His  certificate  is  demanded  by  the 
keeper  of  conscience  when  he  is  caught  in  the  trap  of  sickness, 
and  if  without  one,  his  conviction  is  certain  ;  he  cannot  plead 


248  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

ignorance  of  the  law,  for  a  postscript  and  condition  is  affixed  to 
all  notices  of  jubilees,  indulgences,  and  other  purgatorial  benefits, 
which  are  fixed  on  the  church  doors  ;  and  the  language  is  as 
courteous  and  peremptory  as  in  our  popular  assessed  tax-paper — 
"  Se  ha  de  tener  la  bula  :"  you  must  have  the  bull  ;  if  you  ex- 
pect to  derive  any  relief  from  these  relaxations  in  purgatory, 
which  all  Spaniards  most  particularly  do :  hence  the  common 
phrase  used  by  any  one,  when  committing  some  little  peccadillo 
in  other  matters,  tengo  mi  bula  para  todo — I  have  got  my  bull, 
my  license  to  do  any  thing.  The  possession  of  this  document 
acts  on  all  fleshly  comforts  like  soda  on  indigestion,  indeed,  it 
neutralizes  everything  except  heresy.  As  it  is  cheap,  a  Protes- 
tant resident,  albeit  he  may  not  quite  believe  in  its  saving  effects, 
will  do  well  to  purchase  one  for  the  sake  of  the  peace  of  mind  of 
his  weaker  brethren,  for  in  this  religion  of  forms  and  outer  obser- 
vances, more  horror  is  felt  by  rigid  Spaniards,  at  seeing  an  Eng- 
lishman eating  meat  during  a  fast,  than  if  he  had  broken  all  the 
ten  commandments.  The  sums  levied  from  the  nation  for  these 
bulls  is  very  large,  although  they  are  diminished  before  finally 
paid  into  the  exchequer ;  some  of  the  honey  gathered  by  so  many 
bees  will  stick  to  their  wings,  and  the  place  of  chief  commissioner 
of  the  Bula  is  a  better  thing  than  that  in  the  Excise  or  Customs 
of  unbelieving  countries. 

To  return  to  the  dying  man  :  if  he  has  the  bull,  the  host  is 
brought  to  him  with  great  pomp  ;  the  procession  is  attended  by 
crowds  who  bear  crosses,  lighted  candles,  bells  and  incense  ;  and 
as  the  chamber  is  thrown  open  to  the  public,  the  ceremony  is  ac- 
companied by  multitudes  of  idlers.  The  spectacle  is  always  im- 
posing, as  it  must  be,  considering  that  the  incarnate  Deity  is  be- 
lieved to  be  present.  It  is  particularly  striking  on  Easter  Sunday, 
when  the  host  is  taken  to  all  the  sick  who  have  been  unable  to 
communicate  in  the  parish  church.  Then  the  priest  walks  either 
under  a  gorgeous  canopy,  or  is  mounted  in  the  finest  carriage  in 
the  town ;  and  while  all  as  he  passes  kneel  to  the  wafer  which 
he  bears,  he  chuckles  internally  at  his  own  reality  of  power  over 
his  prostrate  subjects  ;  the  line  of  streets  are  gaily  decorated  as 
for  the  triumphal  procession  of  a  king  :  the  windows  are  hung 
with  velvets  and  tapestries,  and  the  balconies  filled  with  the  fair 


BURIAL  DRESSES.  249 


sex  arrayed  in  their  best,  who  sbower  sweet  flowers  down  on  the 
procession  just  at  the  moment  of  its  passage,  and  sweeter  smiles 
during  all  the  rest  of  the  morning  on  their  lovers  below,  whose 
more  than  divided  adoration  is  engrossed  by  female  divinities. 

To  die  without  confession  and  communication  is  to  a  Spaniard 
the  most  poignant  of  calamities,  as  he  cannot  be  saved  while  he 
is  taught  that  there  is  in  these  acts  a  preserving  virtue  of  their 
own,  independent  of  any  exertions  on  his  part.  The  host  is  given 
when  human  hopes  are  at  an  end,  and  the  heat,  noise,  confusion, 
and  excitement,  seldom  fail  to  kill  the  already  exhausted  patient. 
Then,  when  life's  idle  business  at  a  gasp  is  o'er,  the  body  is  laid 
out  in  a  capilla  ardiente,  or  an  apartment  prepared  as  a  chapel,  by 
taking  out  the  furniture ;  where  the  family  is  rich,  a  room  on  the 
ground  floor  is  selected,  in  which  a  regular  altar  is  dressed  up, 
and  rows  of  large  candles  lighted  placed  around  the  body  ;  the 
public  is  then  allowed  to  enter,  even  in  the  case  of  the  sovereign : 
thus  we  beheld  Ferdinand  VII.  laid  out  dead  and  full  dressed  with 
his  hat  on  his  head,  and  his  stick  in  his  hand.  This  public  ex- 
hibition is  a  sort  of  coroner's  inquest ;  formerly,  as  we  have  often 
seen,  the  body  was  clad  in  a  monk's  dress,  with  the  feet  naked 
and  the  hands  clasped  over  the  breast  ;  the  sepulchral  shadow  then 
thrown  over  the  dead  and  placid  features  by  the  cowl,  seldom 
failed  to  raise  a  solemn  undefinable  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  spec- 
tators, speaking,  as  it  did,  a  language  to  the  living  which  could 
not  be  misunderstood. 

The  woollen  dresses  of  the  mendicant  orders  were  by  far  the 
most  popular,  from  the  idea  that,  when  old,  they  had  become  too 
saturated  with  the  odor  of  sanctity  for  the  vile  nostrils  of  the  evil 
one  ;  and  as  a  tattered  dress  often  brought  more  than  half-a-dozen 
new  ones,  the  sale  of  these  old  clothes  was  a  benefit  alike  to  the 
pious  vendor  and  purchaser  ;  those  of  St.  Francis  were  preferred, 
because  at  his  triennial  visits  to  purgatory,  he  knows  his  own, 
and  takes  them  back  with  him  to  heaven ;  hence  Milton  peopled 
his  shadowy  limbo  with  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing  : — 

"  who,  to  be  sure  of  Paradise. 

Dying  put  on  the  robes  of  Dominick, 
Or  in  Franciscan  think  to  pass  unseen." 

Women  in  our  tim*  were  often  laid  out  in  nun's  dresses,  wear- 
12* 


250  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 


ing  also  the  scapulary  of  the  Virgin  of  Carmel,  which  she  gave 
to  Simon  Stock,  with  the  assurance  that  none  who  died  with  it  on, 
should  ever  suffer  eternal  torments.  The  general  adoption  of 
these  grave  fashions  induced  an  accurate  foreigner  to  remark,  that 
no  one  ever  died  in  Spain  except  nuns  and  monks.  In  this  hot 
country,  burial  goes  hand  in  hand  with  death,  and  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  from  the  rapidity  with  which  putrefaction  comes  on. 
The  last  offices  are  performed  in  somewhat  an  indecent  manner  : 
formerly  the  interment  took  place  in  churches,  or  in  the  yards  near 
them,  a  custom  which  from  hygeian  reasons  is  now  prohibited. 
Public  cemeteries,  which  give  at  least  4  per  cent,  interest,  have 
been  erected  outside  the  towns,  in  which  long  lines  of  catacombs 
gape  greedily  for  those  occupants  who  can  pay  for  them,  while 
a  wide  ditch  is  opened  every  day  for  those  who  cannot.  In  this 
campo  santo,  or  holy  field,  death  levels  all  ranks,  which  seems 
hard  on  those  great  families  who  have  built  and  endowed  chapels 
to  secure  a  burial  among  their  ancestors.  They  however  raised 
no  objections  to  the  change  of  law,  nor  have  ever  much  troubled 
themselves  about  the  dilapidated  sepulchres  and  crumbling  effigies 
of  their  "  grandsires  cut  in  alabaster  ;"  the  real  opposition  arose 
from  the  priests,  who  lost  their  fees,  and  thereupon  assured  their 
flocks,  that  a  future  resurrection  was  anything  but  certain  to 
bodies  committed  into  such  new-fangled  depositories. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  corpse  in  its  slight  coffin  is  carried  out, 
followed  by  the  male  relations,  and  is  then  put  into  its  niche 
without  further  form  or  prayer.  Ladies  who  die  soon  after,  mar- 
riage, and  before  the  bridal  hours  have  danced  their  measure, 
are  sometimes  buried  in  their  wedding  dresses,  and  covered 
with  flowers,  the  dying  injunctions  of  Shakspeare's  Queen  Cathe- 
rine : — 

"  When  I  am  dead,  good  wench. 
Let  me  be  used  with  honor  5  strew  me  o'er 
With  maiden  flowers,  that  all  the  world  may  know 
I  was  a  chaste  wife  to  my  grave." 

At  such  funerals  the  coffin  is  opened  in  the  catacomb,  to  gratify 
the  indecent  curiosity  of  the  crowd  ;  the  dress  is  next  day  dis- 
cussed all  over  the  town,  and  the  entierro  or  funeral  is  pronounced 
to  be  muy  lucido  or  very  brilliant ;  but  life  in  Spain  is  a  jest,  and 


BURIAL  OP  THE  POFR.  251 

these  things  show  it.  The  place  assigned  for  children  who  die 
under  seven  years  of  age  lies  apai :  from  that  of  the  adults  ;  their 
early  death  is  held  in  Spain  to  be  rather  a  matter  of  congratula- 
tion than  of  grief,  since  those  whom  the  gods  love  die  young  ; 
their  epitaphs  tell  a  mixed  tale  of  joy  and  sorrow.  El  parvulo 
fue  arrebatado  a  la  gloria,  the  little  one  was  snatched  up  into 
Paradise  : — 

"  There  is  beyond  the  sky  a  heaven  of  joy  and  love. 
And  holy  children,  when  they  die,  go  to  that  world  above  n 

Yet  nature  will  not  be  put  aside,  and  many  a  mother  have  we 
seen,  loitering  alone  near  the  graves,  adorning  them  with  roses 
and  plucking  up  weeds  which  have  ng  business  to  grow  there  ; 
the  little  corpses  are  carried  to  the  tomb  by  little  children  of  the 
same  age,  clad  in  white,  and  are  strewed  with  flowers  short- 
lived as  themselves,  sweets  to  the  sweet.  The  parents  return 
home  yearning  after  the  lost  child — its  cradle  is  empty,  its  piteous 
moan  is  heard  no  more,  its  playthings  remain  where  it  left  them, 
and  recall  the  cruel  gap  which  grief  cannot  fill  up,  although  it 

"  Stuffs  out  its  vacant  garments  with  its  form." 

The  bodies  of  the  lower  orders,  dressed  in  their  ordinary  attire 
are  borne  to  their  long  home  by  four  men,  as  is  described  by 
Martial ;  "  no  useless  coffins  enclose  their  breasts,"  they  are  car- 
ried forth  as  was  the  widow's  son  at  Nain.  And  often  have  we 
seen  the  frightful  death-tray  standing  upright  at  the  doors  of  the 
humble  dead,  with  a  human  outline  marked  on  the  wood  by  the 
death-damp  of  a  hundred  previous  burdens.  Such  bodies  are 
cast  into  the  trench  like  those  of  dogs,  and  often  naked,  as  the 
survivors  or  sextons  strip  them  even  of  their  rags.  Those  poorer 
still,  who  cannot  afford  to  pay  the  trifling  fee,  sometimes  during 
the  night,  suspend  the  bodies  of  their  children  in  baskets,  near 
the  cemetery  porch.  We  once  beheld  a  cloaked  Spaniard  pacing 
mournfully  in  the  burial-ground  of  Seville,  who,  when  the  public 
trench  was  opened,  drew  from  beneath  the  folds  the  body  of  his 
dead  child,  cast  it  in  and  disappeared.  Thus  half  the  world  lives 
without  knowing  how  the  other  half  dies. 

In  the  upper  ranks  the  etiquette  of  the  funeral  commences 


252  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


after  the  reality  is  over.  The  first  necessary  step  is  within  three 
days  to  pay  a  visit  of  condolence  to  the  family  ;  this  is  called 
para  dar  elpesame.  The  relations  are  all  assembled  in  the  best 
room,  and  seated  on  chairs  placed  at  the  head,  the  women  at  one 
end  and  the  men  at  another.  When  a  condoling  lady  and  gentle- 
man enter,  she  proceeds  to  shake  hands  with  all  the  other  ladies 
one  after  another,  and  then  seats  herself  in  the  next  vacant  chair ; 
the  gentleman  bows  to  each  of  the  men  as  he  passes,  who  rise 
and  return  it,  a  grave  durab-show  of  profound  affliction  being 
kept  up  by  all.  On  reaching  the  chief  mourners,  they  are  ad- 
dressed by  each  condoler  with  this  phrase,  "  Acompano  a  usted 
en  su  sentimiento ;"  "I  share  in  the  affliction  of  your  grace ;" 
the  company  meanwhile  remain  silent  as  an  assemblage  of  under- 
takers. After  sitting  among  them  the  proper  time,  each  retires 
with  much  the  same  form. 

In  a  few  days  afterwards  a  printed  letter  is  sent  round  in  the 
name  of  all  the  surviving  relations  to  announce  the  death  to  the 
friends  of  the  family,  and  to  beg  the  favor  of  attendance  at  the 
funeral  service :  these  invitations  are  are  all  headed  with  a  cross 
(-[-),  which  is  called  El  Cristus.  Before  the  invasion  of  the  ene- 
my, who  not  only  destroyed  the  walls  of  convents,  but  sapped  reli- 
gious belief  also,  very  many  books  were  printed,  and  private  let- 
ters written,  with  this  sign  prefixed.  In  our  time  sundry  medical 
men  at  Seville  always  headed  with  it  their  prescriptions,  the  Car- 
dinal Archbishop  having  granted  a  certain  number  of  years'  re- 
lease from  purgatory  to  all  who  sanctified  with  this  mark  their 
recipes  even  of  senna  and  rhubarb.  Under  this  cross,  in  the  invi- 
tation, are  placed  the  letters  R.  I.  P.  A.,  which  signify  "  Requi- 
escat  in  pace.  Amen."  At  the  appointed  hour  the  mourners 
meet  in  the  casa  mortuaria,  or  the  house  of  death,  and  proceed  to- 
gether to  church.  All  are  dressed  in  full  black,  and  before  the 
progress  of  paletots  and  civilization,  wore  no  cloaks :  this,  as  it 
rendered  each  man  of  them  more  uncomfortable  than  St.  Bartho- 
lomew was  without  his  skin,  was  considered  an  offering  of  genu- 
ine grief  to  the  manes  of  the  deceased.  Uncloaking  in  Spain  is, 
be  it  remembered,  a  mark  of  respect,  and  is  equivalent  to  our 
taking  ofF  the  hat.  When  the  company  arrives  at  church,  they 
are  received  by  the  ministers,  and  the  ceremony  is  very  solemnly 


FUNERAL  SERVICE.  253 

performed  before  a  catafalque  covered  with  a  pall,  which  is  placed 
before  the  altar,  and  is  brilliantly  lighted  up  with  wax  candles. 
As  soon  as  the  service  is  concluded,  all  advance  and  bow  to  the 
chief  mourners,  who  are  seated  apart,  and  thus  the  tragedy  con- 
cludes. Parents  do  not  put  on  mourning  for  their  children,  which 
is  a  remnant  of  the  patriarchal  and  Roman  superiority  of  the  head 
of  the  family,  for  whom,  however,  when  dead,  all  the  other  mem- 
bers pay  the  most  observant  respect.  The  forms  and  number  of 
days  of  mourning  are  most  nicely  laid  down,  and  are  most  rigidly 
observed,  even  by  distant  relations,  who  refrain  from  all  kinds  of 
amusements : — 

"  None  bear  about  the  mockery  of  woe. 
To  public  dances  or  to  private  show." 

We  well  remember  the  death  of  a  kind  and  venerable  Marquesa 
at  Seville  just  before  the  carnival,  whose  chief  grief  at  dying,  was 
the  thought  of  the  namber  of  young  ladies  who  would  thus  be  de- 
prived of  their  balls  and  masquerades  ;  many,  anxious  and  oblig- 
ing, were  the  inquiries  sent  after  her  health,  and  more  even  were 
the  daily  prayers  offered  up  to  the  Virgin,  for  the  prolongation  of 
her  precious  existence,  could  it  be  only  for  a  few  weeks. 

November  drear,  brings  in  other  solemnities  connected  with  the 
dead,  and  in  harmony  with  the  fall  of  the  sear  and  yellow  leaves, 
to  which  Homer  compares  the  races  of  mortal  men.  The  night 
before  the  first  of  November — our  All  Hallow-e'en — is  kept  in 
Spain  as  a  vigil  or  wake  ;  it  is  the  fated  hour  of  love  divinations 
and  mysteries ;  then  anxious  maidens  used  to  sit  at  their  balco- 
nies to  see  the  image  of  their  destined  husbands  pass  or  not  pass 
by.  November  the  first  is  dedicated  to  the  sainted  dead,  and  No- 
vember the  second  to  all  souls  ;  it  is  termed  in  Spanish  el  dia  de 
los  difuntos,  the  day  of  the  dead,  and  is  most  scrupulously  observed 
by  all  who  have  lost  during  the  past  year  some  friend,  some  rela- 
tion— how  few  have  not !  The  dawn  is  ushered  in  by  mournful 
bells,  which  recal  the  memory  of  those  who  cannot  come  back  at 
the  summons  ;  the  cemeteries  are  then  visited  ;  at  Seville,  long 
processions  of  sable-clad  females,  bearing  chased  lamps  on  staves, 
walk  slowly  round  and  round,  chaunting  melancholy  dirges,  re- 
turning when  it  gets  dusk  in  a  long  line  of  glittering  lights.  The 


254  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

graves  during  the  day  are  visited  by  those  who  take  a  sad  inte- 
rest in  their  occupants,  and  lamps  -and  flower  garlands  are  sus- 
pended as  memorials  of  affection,  and  holy  water  is  sprinkled, 
every  drop  of  which  puts  out  some  of  the  fires  of  purgatory. 
These  picturesque  proceedings  at  once  resemble  the  Eed  es  Se- 
gheer  of  modern  Cairo,  the  feralia  of  the  Romans,  the  Ns^eoia 
of  the  Greeks  :  here  are  the  flower  offerings  of  Electra,  the  funes 
assensi,  the  funeral  torches  of  pagan  mourners,  which  have  vainly 
been  prohibited  to  Christian  Spaniards  by  their  early  Council  of 
Illiberis.  In  Navarre,  and  in  the  north-west  of  Spain,  bread  and 
wheat  offerings  called  robos  are  made,  which  are  the  doles  or  gifts 
offered  for  the  souls'  rest  of  the  deceased  by  the  pious  of  ancient 
Rome. 

As  on  this  day  the  cemetery  becomes  the  putflic  attraction,  it 
too  often  looks  rather  a  joyous  fashionable  promenade,  than  a  sad 
and  religious  performance.  The  levity  of  mere  strangers  and  the 
mob,  contrasts  strangely  with  the  sorrow  of  real  mourners.  But 
life  in  this  world  presses  on  death,  and  the  gay  treads  on  the 
heels  of  pathos ;  the  spot  is  crowded  with  mendicants,  who  appeal 
to  the  order  of  the  day,  and  importune  every  tender  recollection, 
by  begging  for  the  sake  of  the  lamented  dead.  Outside  the  dreary 
walls  all  is  vitality  and  mirth  ;  a  noisy  sale  goes  on  of  cakes,  nuts, 
and  sweetmeats,  a  crash  of  horses  and  carriages,  a  din  and  flow 
of  bad  language  from  those  who  look  after  them,  which  must  vex 
the  repose  of  the  benditas  animas,  or  the  blessed  souls  in  purga- 
tory, for  whom  otherwise  all  classes  of  Spaniards  manifest  the 
fondest  affection  and  interest. 

Such  is  the  manner  in  which  the  body  of  a  most  orthodox 
Catholic  Castilian  is  committed  to  the  earth  ;  his  soul,  if  it  goes 
to  purgatory,  is  considered  and  called  blessed  by  anticipation,  as 
the  admittance  into  Paradise  is  certain,  at  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  penal  transportation,  that  is,  "  when  the  foul  crimes  done 
in  the  days  of  nature  are  burnt  and  purged  away,"  as  the  ghost 
in  Hamlet  says,  who  had  not  forgotten  his  Virgil.  If  the  scholar 
objects  to  a  Spanish  clergyman,  that  the  whole  thing  is  Pagan,  he 
will  be  told  that  he  may  go  farther  and  fare  worse.  In  the  case 
of  a  true  Roman  Catholic,  this  term  of  hard  labor  may  be  much 
shortened,  since  that  can  be  done  by  masses,  any  number  of 


PURGATORY.  255 


which  will  be  said,  if  first  paid  for.  The  vicar  of  St.  Peter  holds 
the  keys,  which  always  unlock  the  gate  to  those  who  offer  the 
golden  gift  by  which  Charon  was  bribed  by  ./Eneas ;  thus,  to  a 
judicious  rich  man,  nothing,  supposing  that  he  believes  the  Pope 
versus  the  Bible,  is  so  easy  as  to  get  at  once  into  Heaven  ;  nor 
are  the  poor  quite  neglected,  as  any  one  may  learn  who  will  read 
the  extraordinary  number  of  days'  redemption  which  may  be  ob- 
tained at  every  altar  in  Spain  by  the  performance  of  the  most 
trumpery  routine.  The  only  wonder  is  how  any  one  of  the  faith- 
ful should  ever  fail  to  secure  his  delivery  from  this  spiritual 
Botany  Bay  without  going  there  at  all,  or,  at  least,  only  for  the 
form's  sake.  It  was  calculated  by  an  accurate  and  laborious 
German,  that  an  active  man,  by  spending  three  shillings  in  coach- 
hire,  might  obtain  in  an  hour,  by  visiting  different  privileged 
altars  during  the  Holy  week,  29,639  years,  nine  months,  thirteen 
days,  three  minutes  and  a  half  diminution  of  purgatorial  punish- 
ment. This  merciful  reprieve  was  offered  by  Spanish  priests  in 
South  America,  on  a  grander  style,  on  one  commensurate  with 
that  colossal  continent ;  for  a  single  mass  at  the  San  Francisco  in 
Mexico,  the  Pope  and  prelates  granted  32,310  years,  ten  days, 
and  six  hours'  indulgence.  As  a  means  of  raising  money,  says 
our  Mexican  authority,  "  I  would  not  give  this  simple  institution 
of  masses  for  the  benefit  of  souls,  for  the  power  of  taxation  pos- 
sessed by  any  government ;  since  no  tax-gatherer  is  required  ;  the 
payments  are  enforced  by  the  best  feelings,  for  who  would  not 
pay  to  get  a  parent's  or  friend's  soul  from  the  fire  ?"  Purgatory 
has  thus  been  a  Golconda  mine  of  gold  to  his  Holiness,  as  even 
the  poorest  have  a  chance,  since  charitable  persons  can  deliver 
blank  souls  by  taking  out  a  habeas  animam  writ,  that  is,  by  pay- 
ing the  priest  for  a  mass.  The  especial  days  are  marked  in  the 
almanac,  and  known  to  every  waiter  at  the  inn ;  moreover,  notice 
is  put  on  the  church  door,  Hoy  se  saca  anima,  "  this  day  you  can 
get  out  a  soul."  They  are  generally  left  in  their  warm  quarters 
in  winter,  and  taken  out  in  the  spring. 

Alas  for  poor  Protestants,  who,  by  non-payment  of  St.  Peter's 
pence,  have  added  an  additional  act  of  heresy,  and  the  worst  of 
all,  the  one  which  Rome  never  pardons.  These  defaulters  can 
only  hope  to  be  saved  by  faith,  and  its  fruits,  good  works  ;  they 


256  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

must  repent,  must  quit  their  long-cherished  sins,  and  lead  a  new 
life  ;  for  them  there  is  no  rope  of  St.  Francis  to  pull  them  out, 
if  once  in  the  pit :  no  rosary  of  St.  Dominick  to  remove  them, 
quick,  presto,  begone,  from  torment  to  happiness.  Outside  the 
pale  of  the  Vatican,  their  souls  have  no  chance,  and  inside  the 
frontiers  of  Spain  their  bodies  have  scarcely  a  better  prospect, 
should  they  die  in  that  orthodox  land.  There  the  greatest  liberal 
barely  tolerates  any  burial  at  all  of  their  black-blooded  heretical 
carcasses,  as  no  corn  will  grow  near  them.  Until  within  a  very 
few  years  at  seaport  towns,  their  bodies  used  to  be  put  in  a  hole 
in  the  sands,  and  beyond  low  water  mark ;  nay,  even  this  con- 
cession to  the  infidel  offended  the  semi-Moro  fishermen,  who  true 
believers  and  persecutors  feared  that  their  soles  might  be  poi- 
soned :  not  that  either  sailor  or  priest  ever  exhibited  any  fear  of 
taking  British  current  coin,  all  cash  that  comes  into  their  nets 
being  most  Catholic,  so  says  the  proverb,  El  dinero  es  muy 
Catolico. 

Matters  connected  with  the  grave  have  been  placed,  as  regards 
Protestants,  on  a  much  more  pleasant  footing  within  these  last 
few  years  ;  and  it  may  be  a  consolation  to  invalids,  who  are  sent 
to  Spain  for  change  of  climate,  and  who  are  particular,  to  know, 
in  case  of  accidents,  that  Protestant  burial-grounds  are  now  per- 
mitted at  Cadiz,  Malaga,  and  in  a  few  other  places.  The  history 
of  the  permission  is  curious,  and  has  never,  to  the  best  of  our  be- 
lief, been  told.  In  the  days  of  Philip  II.  Lutherans  were  counted 
in  many  degrees  worse  than  dogs  ;  when  caught  alive,  they  were 
burnt  by  the  holy  tribunal ;  and  when  dead,  were  cast  out  on  the 
dunghill.  Even  when  our  poltroon  James  I.  sent,  in  1622,  his 
ill-judged  olive-bearing  mission,  by  which  Spain  was  saved  from 
utter  humiliation,  Mr.  Hole,  the  secretary  of  the  ambassador, 
Lord  Digby,  having  died  at  Santander,  the  body  was  not  allowed 
to  be  buried  at  all ;  it  was  put  into  a  shell,  and  sunk  in  the  sea  ; 
but  no  sooner  was  his  lordship  gone,  than  "the  fishermen,"  we 
quote  from  Somers'  tracts,  "  fearing  that  they  should  catch  no 
fish  as  long  as  the  coffin  of  a  heretic  lay  in  their  waters,"  fished 
it  up,  "  and  the  corpse  of  our  countryman  and  brother  was  thrown 
above  ground  to  be  devoured  by  the  fowls  of  the  air."  In  the 
treaty  of  1630,  the  31st  Article  provided  for  the  disposal  of  the 


LUTHERAN  BURIAL.  257 

goods  of  those  Englishmen  who  might  die  in  Spain,  but  not  for 
their  bodies.  "  These,"  says  a  commentator  of  Rymer,  "  must 
be  left  sinking  above  ground,  to  the  end  that  the  dogs  may  be 
sure  to  find  them.''"  When  Mr.  Washington,  page  to  Charles  I., 
died  at  Madrid,  at  the  time  his  master  was  there,  Howell,  who 
was  present,  relates  that  it  was  only  as  an  especial  favor  to  the 
suitor  of  the  Spanish  Infanta  that  the  body  was  allowed  to  be  in- 
terred in  the  garden  of  the  embassy,  under  a  fig-tree.  A  few 
years  afterwards,  1650,  Ascham,  the  envoy  of  Cromwell,  was 
assassinated,  and  his  corpse  put,  without  any  rights,  into  a  hole  ; 
but  the  Protector  was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with,  and  knew  well 
how  to  deal  with  a  Spanish  government,  always  a  craven  and 
bully,  from  whom  nothing  ever  is  to  be  obtained  by  concession 
and  gentleness,  which  is  considered  as  weakness,  while  every- 
thing is  to  be  extorted  from  its  fears.  He  that  very  year  com- 
manded a  treaty  to  be  prepared  for  the  proper  burial  of  his  sub- 
jects, .to  which  the  blustering  Spaniard  immediately  assented. 
This  provision  was  stipulated  into  the  treaty  of  Charles  II.  in 
1664,  and  was  conceded  and  ratified  again  in  1667  to  Sir  Richard 
Fanshawe. 

No  step,  however,  appears  to  have  been  taken  before  1796, 
when  Lord  Bute  purchased  a  spot  of  ground  for  the  burial 
of  Englishmen  outside  the  Alcala-gate,  at  Madrid.  During  the 
war,  when  all  Spain  was  a  churchyard  to  our  countrymen,  this 
bit  of  land  was  taken  possession  of  by  a  worthy  Madrilenian.  not 
for  his  place  of  sepulture,  but  for  good  and  profitable  cultivation. 
In  1831  Mr.  Addington  caused  some  researches  to  be  made,  and 
the  original  conveyance  was  found  in  the  Coitiaduria  de  Hypothc- 
cas,  the  registry  of  deeds  and  mortgages  which  backward  Spain 
possesses,  and  which  advanced  England  does  not.  The  intruder 
was  ejected  after  some  struggling  on  his  part.  Before  Lord 
Bute's  time  the  English  had  been  buried  at  night  and  without  ce- 
remonies, in  the  garden  of  the  convent  de  los  Recoletos  ;  and,  as 
Lord  Bute's  new  bit  of  ground  was  extensive  and  valuable,  the 
pious  monks  wished  to  give  up  the  English  corner  in  their  gar- 
den, in  exchange  for  it  ;  but  the  transfer  was  prevented  by  the 
recent  law  which  forbade  all  burial  in  cities.  The  field  pur- 
chased by  Lord  Bute  is  low  unenclosed  and  uncultivated;  fortu- 


258  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

nately  it  has  not  been  much  wanted,  only  fifteen  Protestants  hav- 
ing died  at  Madrid  during  the  last  thirty  years.  In  November, 
1831,  Ferdinand  VII.  finally  settled  this  grave  question  by  a  de- 
cree, in  which  he  granted  permission  for  the  erection  of  a  Pro- 
testant burial-ground  in  all  towns  where  a  British  consul  or  agent 
should  reside,  subject  to  most  degrading  conditions.  The  first 
cemetery  set  apart  in  Spain,  in  virtue  of  this  gracious  decree  from 
a  -man  replaced  on  his  throne  by  the  death  of  30,000  English- 
men, was  the  work  of  Mr.  Mark,  our  consul  at  Malaga ;  he  en- 
closed a  spot  of  ground  to  the  east  of  that  city,  and  placed  a  tab- 
let over  the  entrance,  recording  the  royal  permission,  and  above 
that  a  cross.  Thus  he  appealed  to  the  dominant  feelings  of 
Spaniards,  to  their  loyalty  and  religion.  The  Malaganians  were 
amazed  when  they  beheld  this  emblem  of  Christianity  raised  over 
the  last  home  of  Lutheran  dogs,  and  exclaimed,  "  So  even  these 
Jews  make  use  of  the  cross  !"  The  term  Jew,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, is  the  acme  of  Spanish  loathing  and  vituperation. 
The  first  body  interred  in  it  was  that  of  Mr.  Boyd,  who  was  shot 
by  the  bloody  Moreno,  with  the  poor  dupe  Torrijos  and  the  rest 
of  his  rebel  compan  ions. 


THE   SPANISH   FIGARO.  259 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

The  Spanish  Figaro — Mustachios— Whiskers — Beards — Bleeding — He 
raldic  Blood — Blue,  Red,  and  Black  Blood—Figaro's  Shop — The  Bara- 
tero — Shaving  and  Toothdrawing. 

FEW  who  love  Don  Quixote,  will  deem  any  notice  on  the  Pe- 
ninsular surgeon  complete  in  which  the  barber  is  not  mentioned, 
even  be  it  in  a  postscript.  Although  the  names  of  bpth  these 
learned  professors  have  long  been  nearly  synonymous  in  Spain, 
the  barber  is  much  to  be  preferred,  inasmuch  as  his  cuts  are  less 
dangerous,  and  his  conversation  is  more  agreeable.  He  with  the 
curate  formed  the  quiet  society  of  the  Knight  of  La  Mancha,  as 
the  apotheeary  and  vicar  used  to  make  that  of  most  of  our  coun- 
try squires  of  England.  Let,  therefore,  every  Adonis  of  France, 
now  bearded  as  a  pard  although  young,  nay,  let  each  and  all  of 
our  fair  readers,  albeit  equally  exempt  from  the  pains  and  penal- 
ties of  daily  shaving,  make  instantly,  on  reaching  sunny  Seville, 
a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  San  Figaro.  His  shop — apochry- 
phal  it  is  to  be  feared  as  other  legendary  localities — lies  near  the 
cathedral,  and  is  a  no  less  established  lion  than  the  house  of  Dul- 
cinea  is  at  Toboso,  or  the  prison  tower  of  Gil  Bias  is  at  Segovia. 
Such  is  the  magic  power  of  genius.  Cervantes  and  Le  Sage 
have  given  form,  fixture,  and  local  habitation  to  the  airy  nothings 
of  their  fancy's  creations,  while  Mozart  and  Rossini,  by  filling 
the  world  with  melody,  have  bidden  the  banks  of  the  Guadalquivir 
re-echo  to  their  sweet  inventions. 

To  those  even  who  have  no  music  in  their  souls,  the  movement 
from  doctors  to  barbers  is  harmonious  in  a  land  where  beards 
were  long  honored  as  the  type  of  valor  and  chivalry,  and  where 
shaving  took  the  precedence  of  surgery  ;  and  even  to  this  day, 
la  tienda  de  barbero,  the  shop  of  the  man  of  the  razor,  is  better 
supplied  than  many  a  Spanish  hospital  both  with  patients  and 
cutting  instruments.  One  word  first  on  the  black  whiskers  of 


260  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

tawny  Spain.  These  patillas,  as  they  are  now  termed,  must  be 
distinguished  from  the  ancient  mustachio,  the  mostacho,  a  very 
classical  but  almost  obsolete  word,  which  the  scholars  of  Sala- 
manca have  derived  from  juvai<i%,  the  upper  lip.  Their  present 
and  usual  name  is  Bigote,  which  is  also  of  foreign  etymology, 
being  the  Spanish  corruption  of  the  German  oath  ley  gott,  and 
formed  under  the  following  circumstances  :  for  nicknames,  which 
stick  like  burrs,  often  survive  the  history  of  their  origin.  The 
free-riding  followers  of  Charles  V.,  who  wore  these  tremendous  ap- 
pendages of  manhood,  swore  like  troopers,  and  gave  themselves 
-infinite  airs,  to  the  more  infinite  disgust  of  their  Spanish  com- 
rades, who  have  a  tolerable  good  opinion  of  themselves,  and  a 
first-rate  hatred  of  all  their  foreign  allies.  These  strange  mus- 
tachios  caught  their  eyes,  as  the  stranger  sounds  which  proceeded 
from  beneath  them  did  their  ears.  Having  a  quick  sense  of  the 
ridiculous,  and  a  most  Oriental  and  schoolboy  knack  at  a  nick- 
name, they  thereupon  gave  the  sound  to  the  substance,  and  called 
the  redoubtable  garnish  of  hair  bigotes.  This  process  in  the  for- 
mation of  phrases  is  familiar  to  philologists,  who  know  that  an 
essential  part  is  often  taken  for  the  whole.  For  example,  a  hat, 
in  common  Spanish  parlance,  is  equivalent  to  a  grandee,  as  with 
us  the  woolsack  is  to  a  Lord  Chancellor.  It  is  natural  that  un- 
scholastic  soldiers,  when  dealing  with  languages  which  they  do 
not  understand,  should  fix  on  their  enemies,  as  a  term  of  reproach, 
those  words  which,  from  hearing  used  the  most  often,  they  ima- 
gine must  constitute  the  foundation  of  tbe  hostile  grammar.  Thus 
our  troops  called  the  Spaniards  los  Carajos,  from  their  terrible 
oaths  and  terrible  runnings  away.  So  the  clever  French  desig- 
nated as  les  godams,  those  "stupid"  fellows  in  red  jackets  who 
never  could  be  made  to  know  when  they  were  beaten,  but  con- 
tinued to  make  use  of  that  significant  phrase  in  reference  to  their 
victors,  until  they  politely  showed  them  the  shortest  way  home 
over  the  Pyrenees. 

The  real  Spanish  mustachio,  as  worn  by  the  real  Don  Whis- 
kerandoses  men  with  shorter  cloaks  and  purses  <than  beards  and 
rapiers,  have  long  been  cut  off,  like  the  pig-tails  of  our  monarchs 
and  cabinet  ministers.  Yet  their  merits  are  embalmed  in  meta- 
phors more  enduring  than  that  masterpiece  in  bronze  with  which 


THE  BEARD.  261 


Mr.  Wyatt,  full  of  Phidias,  has  adorned  King  George's  back  and 
Charing  Cross.  Thus  liombre  de  mucJw  bigote,  a  man  of  much 
moustache,  means,  in  Spanish,  a  personage  of  considerable  pre- 
tension, a  fine,  liberal  fellow,  and  anything,  in  short,  but  a  bigot 
in  wine,  women,  or  theology.  The  Spanish  original  realities, 
like  the  pig-tails  of  Great  Britain,  have  also  been  immortalized 
by  fine  art,  and  inimitably  painted  by  Velazquez.  Under  his 
life-conferring  brush  they  required  no  twisting  with  hot  irons. 
Curling  from  very  ire  and  martial  instinct,  they  were  called  li- 
gotes  a  la  Fernandina,  and  their  rapid  growth  was  attributed  to 
the  eternal  cannon  smoke  of  the  enemy,  into  which  nothing  could 
prevent  their  valorous  wearers  from  poking  their  faces.  This 
luxuriance  has  diminished  in  these  degenerate  times,  unless  Na- 
pier's '  History  of  the  Peninsular  War'  be,  as  the  Spaniards  say, 
written  in  a  spirit  of  envy  and  jealousy  against  their  heroic  ar- 
mies, which  alone  trampled  on  the  invincible  eagles  of  Aus- 
terlitz. 

As  among  the  Egyptian  gods  and  priests,  rank  was  indicated 
by  the  cut  of  the  beard,  so  in  Spain  the  military,  civil  and  clerical 
shapes  were  carefully  defined.  The  Charley,  or  Imperial,  as  we 
term  the  little  tuft  in  the  middle  of  the  under  lip,  a  word  by  the 
way  which  is  derivable  either  from  our  Charles  or  from  his 
namesake  emperor,  was  called  in  Spain  El  perrillo,  "  the  little 
dog,"  the  terminating  tail  being  omitted,  which  however  becoming 
in  the  animal  and  bronzes,  shocked  Castilian  euphuism. 

In  the  mediaeval  periods  of  Spain's  greatness  the  beard  and  not 
the  whisker  was  the  real  thing  ;  and  as  among  the  Orientals  and 
ancients,  it  was  at  once  the  mark  of  wisdom  and  of  soldiersfiip  ; 
to  cut  it  off  was  an  insult  and  injury  scarcely  less  than  decapita- 
tion ;  nay,  this  nicety  of  honor  survived  the  grave.  The  seated 
corps  of  the  Cid,  so  tells  his  history,  knocked  down  a  Jew  who 
ventured  to  take  the  dead  lion  by  his  beard,  which,  as  all  natural 
philosophers  know,  has  an  independent  vitality,  and  grows 
whether  its  master  be  alive  or  dead,  be  willing  or  unwilling. 
When  the  insolent  Gauls  pulled  these  flowing  ornaments  of  the 
aged  Roman  senators,  they,  who  with  unmoved  dignity  had  seen 
Marshal  Brennus  steal  their  plate  and  pictures,  could  not  brook 
that  last  and  greatest  outrage.  In  process  of  time  and  fashion 


262  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

the  beards  of  Spain  fell  off,  and  being  only  worn  by  mendicant 
monks  and  he-goats,  were  considered  ungentlemanlike,  and  were 
substituted  among  cavaliers  by  the  Italian  rnostachio  ;  the  seat  of 
Spanish  honor  was  then  placed  under  the  nose,  that  sensitive 
sentinel.  The  renowned  Duke  of  Alva  being  of  course  in  want 
of  money,  once  offered  one  of  his  bigotes  as  a  pledge  for  a  loan, 
and  one  only  was  considered  to  be  a  sufficient  security  by  the 
Rothschilds  of  the  day,  who  remembered  the  hair-breadth  escape 
of  their  ancestor  too  well  to  laugh  at  anything  connected  with  a 
hero's  beard  ;  nous  avons  cliangt  tout  cela.  The  united  Hebrews 
of  Paris  and  London  would  not  now  advance  a  stiver  for  every 
particular  hair  on  the  bodies  of  Narvaez  and  Espartero,  nor  even 
if  the  moustache  reglementaire  of  Montpensier,  and  a  bushel  of 
Bourbon  beards,  warranted  legitimate,  were  added. 

The  use  of  the  bigote  in  Spain  is  legally  confined  to  the  mili- 
tary, most  of  whose  generals — their  name  is  legion — are  tenderly 
chary  of  their  Charlies,  dreading  razors  no  less  than  swords  ; 
when  the  Infante  Don  Carlos  escaped  from  England,  the  only 
real  difficulty  was  in  getting  him  to  cut  off  his  moustache  ;  he 
would  almost  sooner  have  lost  his  head,  like  his  royal  English 
tocayo  or  omonyme.  Elizabeth's  gallant  Drake,  when  he  burnt 
Philip's  fleet  at  Cadiz,  simply  called  his  Nelsonic  touch  "  singeing 
the  King  of  Spain's  whiskers."  Zurbano  the  other  day  thought 
it  punishment  enough  for  any  Basque  traitors  to  cut  off  their 
bigotes,  and  turn  them  loose,  like  rats  without  tails,  pour  en- 
coumger  les  autres.  It  is  indeed  a  privation.  Thus  Majaval,  the 
pirate  murderer,  who  by  the  glorious  uncertainty  of  English  law 
was  not  hanged  at  Exeter,  offered  his  prison  beard,  when  he 
reached  Barcelona,  to  the  delivering  Virgin.  Many  Spanish  civi- 
lians and  shopkeepers,  in  imitation  of  the  transpyrenean  CaHcots. 
men  who  wear  moustachios  on  their  lips  in  peace,  and  spectacles 
on  their  noses  in  war,  so  constantly  let  them  grow,  that  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  fulminated  a  royal  decree,  which  was  to  cut  them  off 
from  the  face  of  the  Peninsula,  as  the  Porte  is  docking  his  true 
believers.  Such  is  the  progress  of  young  and  beardless  civiliza- 
tion. The  attempt  to  shorten  the  cloaks  of  Madrid  nearly  cost 
Charles  III.  his  crown,  and  this  cropping  mandate  of  his  beloved 
grandson  was  obeyed  as  Spanish  decrees  generally  are,  for  a 


SPANISH  BLEEDING.  263 


month  all  but  twenty-nine  days.  These  decrees,  like  solemn 
treaties,  charters,  stock-certificates,  and  so  forth,  being  mostly 
used  to  light  cigars ;  now-a-days  that  the  Moro-Spaniard  is  aping 
the  true  Parisian  polish,  the  national  countenance  is  somewhat 
put  out  of  face,  to  the  serious  sorrow  and  disparagement  of  poor 
Figaro. 

As  for  his  house  and  home  none  can  fail  finding  it  out ;  no 
cicerone  is  wanted,  for  the  outside  is  distinguished  from  afar  by 
the  emblems  of  his  time-honored  profession  :  first  and  foremost 
hangs  a  bright  glittering  metal  Mambrino-helmet  basin,  with  a 
neat  semicircular  opening  cut  out  of  the  rim,  into  which  the 
throat  of  the  patient  is  let  during  the  operation  of  lathering,  which 
is  always  done  with  the  hand  and  most  copiously;  near  it  are 
suspended  huge  grinders,  which  in  an  English  museum  would 
pass  for  the  teeth  of  elephants,  and  for  those  of  Saint  Christopher 
in  Spanish  churches,  where  comparative  anatomy  is  scouted  as 
heretical  in  the  matter  of  relics ;  strange  to  say,  and  no  Spanish 
theologian  could  ever  satisfy  us  why,  this  saint  is  not  the  "  espe- 
cial advocate"  against  the  toothache  ;  here  Santa  Apollonia  is 
the  soothing  patroness.  Near  these  molars  are  displayed  awful 
phlebotomical  symbols,  and  rude  representations  of  bloodlettings ; 
for  in  Spain,  in  church  and  out,  painting  does  the  work  of  print- 
ing to  the  many  who  can  see,  but  cannot  read.  The  barber's 
pole,  with  its  painted  bandage  riband,  the  support  by  which  the 
arm  was  kept  extended,  is  wanting  to  the  threshold  of  the  Figaros 
of  Spain,  very  much  because  bleeding  is  generally  performed  in 
the  foot,  in  order  that  the  equilibrium  of  the  whole  circulation 
may  be  maintained.  The  painting  usually  presents  a  female 
foot,  which  being  an  object,  and  not  unreasonably,  of  great  devo- 
tion in  Spain,  is  selected  by  the  artist ;  tradition  also  influences 
the  choice,  for  the  dark  sex  were  wont  formerly  to  be  bled  regu- 
larly as  calves  are  still,  to  obtain  whiteness  of  flesh  and  fairness 
of  complexion  :  as  it  was  usual  on  each  occasion  that  the  lover 
should  restore  the  exhausted  patient  by  a  present,  the  purses  of 
gallants  kept  pace  with  the  venous  depletion  of  their  mistresses. 
The  Sangrados  of  Spain,  professional  as  well  as  unprofessional, 
have  long  been  addicted  to  the  shedding  of  innocent  blood  ;  in- 
deed, no  people  in  the  world  are  more  curious  about  the  pedi- 


264  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

gree  purity  of  their  own  blood,  nor  less  particular  about  pouring 
it  out  like  water,  whether  from  their  own  veins  or  those  of  others. 
One  word  on  this  vital  fluid  with  which  unhappy  Spain  is  too 
often  watered  during  her  intestine  disorders. 

If  the  Iberian  anatomists  did  not  discover  its  circulation,  the 
heralds  have  "  tricked"  out  its  blazoning,  as  we  do  our  admirals, 
with  all  the  nicety  of  armorial  coloring.  Blue  blood,  Sangre  azul, 
is  the  ichor  of  demigods  which  flows  in  the  arteries  of  the  gran- 
dees and  highest  nobility,  each  of  whose  pride  is  to  be 

"  A  true  Hidalgo,  free  from  every  stain 
Of  Moor  or  Jewish  blood," 

a  boast  which  like  some  others  of  theirs  wants  confirmation,  as  it 
is  in  the  power  of  one  woman  to  taint  the  blood  of  Charlemagne ; 
and  nature,  which  cannot  be  written  down  by  Debretts,  has 
stamped  on  their  countenances  the  marks  of  hybrid  origin,  and 
particularly  from  these  very  and  most  abhorred  stocks ;  it  is  from 
this  tint  of  celestial  azure  that  the  term  sangre  su  is  given  in 
Spain  to  the  elect  and  best  set  of  earth,  the  haute  voice,  who  soar 
above  vulgar  humanity.  Red  blood  flows  in  the  veins  of  poor 
gentlemen  and  younger  brothers,  and  is  just  tolerated  by  all, 
except  judicious  mothers,  whose  daughters  are  marriageable. 
Blood,  simple  blood,  is  the  puddle  which  paints  the  cheek  of  the 
plebeian  and  roturier  ;  it  has,  or  ought  to  possess,  a  perfect  in- 
compatibility with  the  better  colored  fluid,  and  an  oil  and  vinegar 
property  of  non-amalgamation.  There  is  more  difference,  as 
Salario  says,  between  such  bloods,  than  there  is  between  red  wine 
and  Rhenish.  These  and  other  dreams  are,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
the  fond  metaphors  of  heralds.  The  rosy  stream  in  mockery  of 
rouge  croix  and  blue  dragons  flows  inversely  and  perversely  :  in 
the  arteries  of  the  lusty  muleteer  it  is  the  lava  blood  of  health 
and  vigor ;  in  the  monkey  marquis  and  baboon  baron  it  stagnates 
in  the  dull  lethargy  of  a  blue  collapse.  Their  noble  ichor  is 
virtually  more  impoverished  than  their  nominal  rent-roll,  since  the 
operation  of  transmission  of  wholesome  blood  from  young  veins 
into  a  worn-out  frame,  which  is  so  much  practised  elsewhere,  is 
too  nice  for  the  Sangre  su  and  Sangrados  of  Spain  ;  the  thin 
fluid  is  never  enriched  with  the  calipash  heiress  of  an  alderman, 
nor  is  the  decayed  genealogical  stock  renewed  by  the  golden 


FIGARO'S  SHOP.  265 


graft  of  a  banker's  only  daughter.  The  insignificant  grandees 
of  Spain  quietly  permitted  Christina  to  barter  away  their  coun- 
try's liberties  ;  but  when  her  children  by  the  baseborn  Munoz 
came  betwixt  them  and  their  nobility,  then  alone  did  they  remon- 
strate. Indifferent  to  the  degradations  of  the  throne,  they  were 
tremblingly  alive  to  the  punctilios  of  their  own  order.  Those 
Peninsula  ladies  who  are  blues,  by  blood  not  socks,  are  equally 
fastidious  in  the  serious  matter  of  its  admixture  even  by  Hymen  : 
one  of  them,  it  is  said,  having  chanced  in  a  moment  of  weak- 
ness to  mingle  her  azure  with  something  brownish,  alleged  in 
excuse  that  she  had  done  so  for  her  character's  sake.  "  Que 
disparate,  mi  Senora."  "  What  nonsense,  my  lady !"  was  her 
fair  confidante's  reply  ;  "  ten  bastards  would  have  less  discolored 
your  blood,  than  one  legitimate  child  the  issue  of  such  a  mis- 
alliance." 

To  stick,  however,  to  our  colors ;  Hack  blood  is  the  vile  Sty- 
gean  pitch  which  is  found  in  the  carcasses  of  Jews,  Gentiles,  Moors, 
Lutherans,  and  other  combustible  heretics,  with  whose  bodies  the 
holy  tribunal  made  bonfires  for  the  good  of  their  souls.  Nay,  in 
the  case  of  the  Hebrew  this  black  blood  is  also  thought  to  stink, 
whence  Jews  were  called  by  learned  Latinists  putos,  quia  putant ; 
and  certainly  at  Gibraltar  an  unsavory  odor  seems  to  be  gentil- 
itious  in  the  children  of  Israel,  not,  however,  to  unorthodox  and  un- 
heraldic  nostrils  a  jot  more  so,  than  in  the  believing  Spanish  monk. 
Recently  the  color  black  has  been  assigned  to  the  blood  of  politi- 
cal opponents,  and  a  copious  "  shedding  of  vile  black  blood"  has 
been  the  regular  panacea  of  every  military  Sangrado.  How  ex- 
tremes meet !  Thus,  this  aristocracy  of  color,  in  despotical  old 
Spain,  which  lies  in  the  veins,  is  placed  on  the  skin  in  new  repub- 
lican America.  Where  is  the  free  and  easy  Yankee  who  would 
recognize  a  brother  in  a  black  ? 

To  return  to  Figaro.  There  is  no  mistaking  his  shop  ;  for  in- 
dependently of  the  external  manifestations  of  the  fine  arts  prac- 
tised within,  his  threshold  is  the  lounge  of  all  idlers,  as  well  as  of 
those  who  are  anxious  to  relieve  their  chins  of  the  thick  stubble 
of  a  three  days'  growth.  The  house  of  the  barber  has,  since  the 
days  of  Solomon  and  Horace,  been  the  mart  of  news  and  gossip, 
— of  epigram  and  satire,  as  Pasquino  the  tailor's  was  at  Rome, 

PART    II.  13 


266  THE  SPANIARDS    AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

It  is  the  club  of  the  lower  orders,  who  here  take  up  a  position,  and 
listen,  cloaked  as  Romans,  to  some  reader  of  the  official  Gazette, 
which,  with  a  cigar,  indicates  modern  civilization,  and  soothes  him 
with  empty  vapor.  Here,  again,  is  the  mint  of  scandal,  and  all 
who  have  lived  intimately  with  Spaniards,  know  how  invariably 
every  one  stabs  his  neighbor  behind  his  back  with  words,  the  lower 
orders  occasionally  using  knives  sharper  even  than  their  tongues. 
Here,  again,  resort  gamblers,  who,  seated  on  the  ground  with  cards 
more  begrimmed  than  the  earth,  pursue  their  fierce  game  as  eager 
as  if  existence  was  at  stake ;  for  there  is  generally  some  well- 
known  cock  of  the  walk,  a  bully,  or  guapo,  who  will  come  up  and 
lay  his  hand  on  the  cards,  and  say,  "  No  one  shall  play  with  any 
cards  but  with  mine" — aqui  no  se  juega  sino  con  mis  barajas.  If  the 
parties  are  cowed,  they  give  him  a  half-penny  each.  If,  however, 
one  of  the  challenged  be  a  spirited  fellow,  he  defies  him — Aquino 
se  cobra  el  barato  sino  con  un  punal  de  Albacete — "  You  get  no 
change  here  except  out  of  an  AJbacete  knife."  If  the  defiance 
be  accepted,  Vamos  alia  is  the  answer — "  Let's  go  to  it."  There's 
an  end  then  of  the  cards,  all  flock  to  the  more  interesting  ecarte  ; 
instances  have  occurred  where  Greek  meets  Greek,  of  their  tying 
the  two  advanced  feet  together,  and  yet  remaining  fencing  with 
knife  and  cloak  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  blow  be  dealt. 
The  knife  is  held  firmly,  the  thumb  is  placed  straight  on  the  blade 
and  calculated  either  for  the  cut  or  thrust. 

The  term  Barato  strictly  means  the  present  which  is  given  to 
waiters  who  bring  a  new  pack  of  cards.  The  origin  is  Arabic, 
Baara,  "  a  voluntary  gift ;"  in  the  corruption  of  the  Baratero,  it 
has  become  an  involuntary  one.  Our  legal  term  Barratry  is  de- 
rived from  the  mediaeval  Barrateria,  which  signifies  cheating  or 
foul  play.  Cervantes  well  knew  that  Baratar  in  old  Spanish 
meant  to  exchange  unfairly,  to  thimble-rig,  to  sell  anything  under 
its  real  value,  and  therefore  gave  the  name  of  Barrateria  to  San- 
cho's  sham  government.  The  Baratero  is  quite  a  thing  of  Spain, 
where  personal  prowess  is  cherished,  and  there  is  one  in  every 
regiment,  ship,  prison,  and  even  among  galley-slaves. 

The  interior  of  the  barber's  shop  is  equally  a  cosa  de  Espana. 
Her  neighbor  may  boast  to  lead  Europe  in  hair-dressing  and 
clipping  poodles,  but  Figaro  snaps  his  fingers  at  her  civilization, 


FIGARO'S  SHOP  267 


and  no  cat's  ears  and  tail  can  be  close*  shaved  than  his  one's  are. 
The  walls  of  his  operating  room  are  neatly  lathered  with  white- 
wash ;  on  a  peg  hangs  his  brown  cloak  and  conical  hat ;  his 
shelves  are  decorated  with  clay-painted  figures  of  picturesque 
rascals,  arrayed  in  all  their  Andalueian  toggery — bandits,  bull- 
fighters, and  smugglers,  who,  especially  the  latter,  are  more  uni- 
versally popular  than  all  or  any  long  tail-coated  chancellors  of 
exchequers.  The  walls  are  enlivened  with  rude  prints  of  fan- 
dango dancings,  miracles,  and  bull-fights,  in  which  the  Spanish 
vulgar  delight,  as  ours  do  in  racing  and  ring  notabilities.  Nor  is 
a  portrait  of  his  querida,  his  black-eyed  sweetheart,  often  wanting. 
Near  these,  for  religion  mixes  itself  with  everything  of  Spain,  are 
images  of  the  Virgin,  patron  saints,  with  stoups  for  holy  water, 
and  little  cups  in  which  lighted  wicks  burn  floating  on  green  oil ; 
and  formerly  no  barber  prepared  for  an  operation,  whether  on 
veins,  teeth,  or  beards,  without  first  making  the  sign  of  a  cross. 
Thus  hallowed,  his  implements  of  art  are  duly  arranged  in  order; 
his  glass,  soap,  towels,  and  leather  strap,  and  guitar,  which,  in- 
deed, with  the  razor,  constitutes  the  genus  barber.  "  These 
worthies,"  said  Don  Quixote,  "  are  all  either  guitarristas  o  copleros  ; 
they  are  either  makers  of  couplets,  or  accompany  other  songsters 
with  catgut."  Hence  Quevedo,  in  his  <  Pigsties  of  Satan,'  pun- 
ishes unrighteous  Figaros,  by  hanging  up  near  them  a  guitar, 
which  tantalizes  their  touch,  and  moves  away  when  they  wish  to 
take  it  down. 

Few  Spaniards  ever  shave  themselves  ;  it  is  too  mechanical,  so 
they  prefer,  like  the  Orientals,  a  "  razor  that  is  hired,"  and  as 
that  must  be  paid  for,  scarcely  any  go  to  the  expensive  luxury  of 
an  every-day  shave.  Indeed,  Don  Quixote  advised  Sancho,  wher 
nominated  a  governor,  to  shave  at  least  every  other  day  if  he  wished 
to  look  like  a  gentleman.  The  peculiar  sallowness  of  a  Spaniard's 
face  is  heightened  by  the  contrast  of  a  sable  bristle.  Figaro  him- 
self is  dressed  much  after  the  fashion  in  which  he  appears  on 
transpyrenean  stages ;  he,  on  true  Galenic  principles,  takes  care 
not  to  alarm  his  patients  by  a  lugubrious  costume.  There  is 
nothing  black,  or  appertaining  to  the  grave  about  him ;  he  is  all 
tags,  tassels,  color,  and  embroidery,  quips  and  quirks  ;  he  is  never 
still ;  always  in  a  bustle,  he  is  lying  and  lathering,  cutting  chins 


268  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

and  capers,  here,  there,  and  every  where.  Figaro  la,  Figaro  qua. 
If  he  has  a  moment  free  from  taking  off  beards  and  making  paper 
cigars,  he  whips  down  his  guitar  and  sings  the  last  seguidilla  : 
thus  he  drives  away  dull  care,  who  hates  the  sound  of  merry 
music,  and  no  wonder  ;  the  operator  performs  his  professional 
duties  much  more  skilfully  than  the  rival  surgeon,  nor  does  he 
bungle  at  any  little  extraneous  amateur  commissions  ;  and  there 
are  more  real  performances  enacted  by  the  barbers  in  Seville  it- 
self, than  in  a  dozen  European  opera  houses. 

These  Figaros,  says  their  proverb,  are  either  mad  or  garru- 
lous, JBarberos,  o  locos,  o  parleros.  Hence,  when  the  Andalucian 
autocrat, 'Adrian,  when  asked  how  he  liked  to  be  shaved,  replied 
"Silently."  Humbler  mortals  must  submit  to  let  Figaro 'have 
his  wicked  way  in  talk  ;  for  when  a  man  is  fixed  in  his  operating 
chair,  with  his  jaws  lathered,  and  his  nose  between  a  finger  and  a 
thumb,  there  is  not  much  conversational  fair  play  or  reciprocity. 
The  Spanish  barber  is  said  to  learn  to  shave  on  the.  orphan's  head, 
and  nothing,  according  to  one  described  by  Martial,  escaped  ex- 
cept a  single  \vary  he-goat.  The  experiments  tried  on  the  veins 
and  teeth  of  aching  humanity,  are  sometimes  ludicrous — at  others 
serious,  as  we  know  to  our  cost,  having  been  silly  enough  to  leave 
behind  in  Spain  two  of  our  wise  teeth  as  relics,  tokens,  and  tro- 
phies of  Figaro's  unrelenting  prowess.  We  cannot  but  remem- 
ber such  things  were,  and  were  dearer,  than  the  pearls  in  Cleo- 
patra's ears,  which  she  melted  in  her  gazpachos.  "  A  mouth 
without  molars,"  said  Don  Quixote  to  Sancho,  "  is  worse  than  a 
mill  without  grinding-stones  ;"  and  the  Don  was  right. 


WHAT   TO   OBSERVE  IN   SPAIN.  269 


CHAPTER    XX. 

What  to  observe  in  Spain — How  to  observe — Spanish  Incuriousness  and 
Suspicions — French  Spies  and  Plunderers — Sketching  in  Spain — Diffi- 
culties ;  How  surmounted — Efficacy  of  Passports  and  Bribes — Uncertainty 
and  Want  of  Information  in  the  Natives. 

Now  that  the  most  approved  methods  of  travelling,  living,  and 
being  buried  in  Spain  have  been  touched  on,  our  kind  readers 
will  naturally  inquire,  what  are  the  peculiar  attractions  which 
should  induce  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  take  their  ease  at  home, 
to  adventure  into  this  land  of  roughing  it,  in  which  rats  rather 
than  hares  jump  up  when  the  least  expected.  "  What  to  ob- 
serve" is  a  question  easier  asked  than  answered  ;  who  indeed  can 
cater  for  the  multitudinous  variety  of  fancies,  the  differences  by 
which  Nature  keeps  all  nature  right  ?  Who  shall  decide  when 
doctors  disagree,  as  they  always  do,  on  matters  of  taste,  since 
every  one  has  his  own  way  of  viewing  things,  and  his  own  hobby 
and  predilection  ?  Say  not,  however,  with  Srnellfungus,  that  all 
is  a  wilderness  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, — nor  seek  for  weeds 
where  flowers  grow.  The  search  for  the  excellent  is  the  high 
road  to  excellence,  as  not  to  appreciate  it  when  found  is  the 
surest  test  of  mediocrity.  The  refining  effort  and  habit  teaches 
the  mind  to  think  ;  from  long  pondering  on  the  beautiful  world 
without,  snatches  are  caught  of  the  beautiful  world  within,  and 
a  glimpse  is  granted  to  the  chosen  few,  of  glories  hidden  from  the 
vulgar  many.  They  indeed  have  eyes,  but  see  not ;  nay,  scarcely 
do  they  behold  the  things  of  external  nature,  until  told  what  to 
look  for,  where  to  find  it,  and  how  to  observe  it ;  then  a  new 
sense,  a  second  sight,  is  given.  Happy,  thrice  happy  those  from 
whose  eyes  the  film  has  been  removed,  who  instead  of  a  previous 
vague  general  and  unintelligent  stare,  have  really  learnt  to  see  ! 
To  them  a  fountain  of  new  delights,  pure  and  undefiled,  welling 
up  and  overflowing,  is  opened  ;  in  proportion  as  they  comprehend 


270  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  infinite  form,  color,  and  beauty  with  which  Nature  clothes 
her  every  work,  albeit  her  sweetest  charms  are  only  revealed  to 
the  initiated,  reserved  as  the  rich  reward  of  those  who  bow  to  her 
shrine  with  singleness  of  purpose,  and  turn  to  her  worship  with 
all  their  hearts,  souls,  and  understandings. 

It  was  with  these  beneficent  intentions  that  our  good  friend  John 
Murray  first  devised  Handbooks  ;  and  next,  by  writing  them  him- 
self, taught  others  how  to  dip  into  inkstands  for  red  books,  which 
tell  man,  woman,  and  child  what  to  observe,  to  the  ruin  of  laquais 
de  place,  and  discomfiture  of  authors  of  single  octavos  and  long 
vacation  excursions.  Few  gentlemen  who  publish  the  notes  of 
their  Peninsular  gallop  much  improve  their  light  diaries  by  dis- 
cussing heavy  handbook  subjects  ;  skimming,  like  swallows,  over 
the  surface,  and  in  pursuit  of  insects,  they  neither  heed  nor  dis- 
cern the  gems  which  lurk  in  the  deeps  below ;  they  see  in- 
deed all  the  scum  and  straws  which  float  on  the  surface,  and 
write  down  on  their  tablets  all  that  is  rotten  in  the  state  of  Spain. 
Hence  the  sameness  of  some  of  their  works ;  one  book  and  bandit 
reflects  another,  until  writers  and  readers  are  imprisoned  in  a 
vicious  circle.  Nothing  gives  more  pain  to  Spaniards  than  see- 
ing volume  after  volume  written  on  themselves  and  their  country 
by  foreigners,  who  have  only  rapidly  glanced  at  one-half  of  the, 
subject,  and  that  half  the  one  of  which  they  are  the  most  ashamed, 
and  consider  the  least  worth  notice.  This  constant  prying  into 
the  nakedness  of  the  land  and  exposing  it  afterwards,  has  increased 
the  dislike  which  they  entertain  towards  the  impertinente  curioso 
tribe :  they  well  know  and  deeply  feel  their  country's  decline ; 
but  like  poor  gentlefolks,  who  have  nothing  but  the  past  to  be 
proud  of,  they  are  anxious  to  keep  these  family  secrets  concealed, 
even  from  themselves,  and  still  more  from  the  observations  of  those 
who  happen  to  be  their  superiors,  not  in  blood,  but  in  worldly 
prosperity.  This  dread  of  being  shown  up  sharpens  their  in- 
herent suspicions,  when  strangers  wish  to  u  observe,"  and  examine 
into  their  ill-provided  arsenals  and  institutions,  just  as  Burns  was 
scared  even  by  the  honest  antiquarian  Grose ;  so  they  lump  the 
good  and  the  bad,  putting  them  down  as  book-making  Paul  Prys : — 

"  If  there  's  a  hole  in  a'  your  coats, 
I  rede  ye  tent  it ; 


DISLIKE   TO   OBSERVERS.  271 

A  chiel  's  amang  ye,  taking  notes, 
And  faith  !  he'll  prent  it/? 

The  less  observed  and  said  about  these  Spanish  matters,  these 
cosas  de  Espana — the  present  tatters  in  her  once  proud  flag,  on 
which  the  sun  never  set — is,  they  think,  the  soonest  mended. 
These  comments  heal  slower  than  the  knife-gash — "  Sanan 
cuchilladas,  mas  NO  malas  palabras"  Let  no  author  imagine  that 
the  fairest  observations  that  he  can  take  and  make  of  Spain  as 
she  is,  setting  down  naught  in  malice,  can  ever  please  a  Spaniard ; 
his  pride  and  self-esteem  are  as  great  as  the  self-conceit  and  low 
consequence  of  the  American :  both  are  morbidly  sensitive  and 
touchy ;  both  are  afflicted  with  the  notion  that  all  the  world,  who 
are  never  troubling  their  heads  about  them,  are  thinking  of  noth- 
ing else,  and  linked  in  one  common  conspiracy,  based  in  envy, 
jealousy,  or  ignorance;  "you  don't  understand  us,  I  guess." 
Truth,  except  in  the  shape  of  a  compliment,  is  the  greatest  of 
libels,  and  is  howled  against  as  a  lie  and  forgery  from  the  Straits  to 
the  Bidasoa ;  Napier's  history,  for  example.  The  Spaniard,  who 
is  hardly  accustomed  to  a  free,  or  rather  a  licentious  press,  and 
the  scavenger  propensity  with  which,  in  England  and  America,  it 
rakes  into  the  sewers  of  private  life  and  the  gangrenes  of  public, 
is  disgusted  with  details  which  he  resents  as  a  breach  of  hospital- 
ity in  strangers.  He  considers,  and  justly,  that  it  is  no  proof 
either  of  goodness  of  breeding,  heart,  or  intellect,  to  be  searching 
for  blemishes  rather  than  beauties,  for  toadstools  rather  than  vio- 
lets ;  he  despises  those  curmudgeons  who  see  motes  rather  than 
beams  in  the  brightest  eyes  of  Andalucia.  The  productions  of 
strangers,  and  especially  of  those  who  ride  and  write  the  quickest, 
must  savor  of  the  pace  and  sources  from  whence  they  originate. 
Foreigners  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  language  and  good 
society  of  Spain  are  of  necessity  brought  the  most  into  contact 
with  the  lowest  scenes  and  the  worst  class  of  people,  thus  road- 
scrapings  and  postillion  information  too  often  constitute  the  raw- 
head-and-bloody-bones  material  of  their  composition.  All  this 
may  be  very  amusing  to  those  who  like  these  subjects,  but  they 
afford  a  poor  criterion  for  descanting  on  whatever  does  the  most 
honor  to  a  country,  or  gives  sound  data  for  judging  its  real  con- 
dition. How  would  we  ourselves  like  that  Spaniards  should  form 


272  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


their  opinions  of  England  and  Englishmen  from  the  Newgate 
calendars,  the  reports  of  cads,  and  the  annals  of  beer-shops  ? 

Various  as  are  the  objects  worth  observing  in  Spain,  many  of 
which  are  to  be  seen  there  only,  it  may  be  as  well  to  mention 
what  is  not  to  be  seen,  for  there  is  no  such  loss  of  time  as  finding 
this  out  oneself,  after  weary  chase  and  wasted  hour.  Those  who 
expect  to  meet  with  well-garnished  arsenals,  libraries,  restaurants, 
charitable  or  literary  insitutions,  canals,  railroads,  tunnels,  sus- 
pension-bridges, steam-engines,  omnibuses,  manufactories,  poly- 
technic galleries,  pale-ale  breweries,  and  similar  appliances  and 
appurtances  of  a  high  state  of  political,  social,  and  commercial 
civilization,  had  better  stay  at  home.  In  Spain  there  are  no 
turnpike-trust  meetings,  no  quarter-sessions,  no  courts  of  justice, 
according  to  the  real  meaning  of  that  word,  no  treadmills  no 
boards  of  guardians,  no  chairmen,  directors,  masters  extraordinary 
of  the  court  of  chancery,  mo  assistant  poor-law  commissioners. 
There  are  no  anti-tobacco-teetotal-temperance-meetings,  no  auxil- 
iary-missionary-propagating societies,  nothing  in  the  blanket  and 
lying-in  asylum  line,  nothing,  in  short,  worth  a  revising-barrister 
of  three  years'  standing's  notice,  unless  he  be  partial  to  the  study 
of  the  laws  of  bankruptcy.  Spain  is  no  country  for  the  political 
economist,  beyond  affording  an  example  of  the  decline  of  the 
wealth  of  nations,  and  offering  a  wide  topic  on  errors  to  be  avoid- 
ed, as  well  as  for  experimental  theories,  plans  of  reform  and 
amelioration.  In  Spain,  Nature  reigns ;  she  has  there  lavished 
her  utmost  prodigality  of  soil  and  climate,  which  Spaniards  have 
for  the  last  four  centuries  been  endeavoring  to  counteract  by  a 
culpable  neglect  of  agricultural  speeches  and  dinners,  and  a  non- 
distribution  of  prizes  for  the  biggest  boars,  asses,  and  laborers 
with  largest  families. 

The  landed  proprietor  of  the  Peninsula  is  little  better  than  a 
weed  of  the  soil ;  he  has  never  observed,  nor  scarcely  permitted 
others  to  observe,  the  vast  capabilities  which  might  and  ought  to 
be  called  into  action.  He  seems  to  have  put  Spain  into  Chanceiy, 
such  is  the  general  dilapidation.  The  country  is  little  better  than 
a  terra  incognita,  to  naturalists,  geologists,  and  all  other  branches 
of  ists  and  ologists.  Every  where  there,  the  material  is  as  super- 
abundant as  native  laborers  and  operatives  are  deficient.  All 


WHAT   TO   OBSERVE.  273 

these  interesting  branches  of  inquiry,  healthful  and  agreeable,  as 
being  out-of-door  pursuits,  and  bringing  the  amateur  in  close 
contact  with  nature,  offer  to  embryo  authors  who  are  ambitious  to 
book  something  new,  a  more  worthy  subject  than  the  old  story  of 
dangers  of  bull-fights,  bandits,  and  black  eyes.  Those  who  aspire 
to  the  romantic,  the  poetical,  the  sentimental,  the  artistical,  the 
antiquarian,  the  classical,  in  short,  to  any  of  the^  sublime  and 
beautiful  lines,  will  find  both  in  the  past  and  present  state  of 
Spain,  subjects  enough  in  wandering  with  lead  pencil  and  note- 
book through  this  singular  country,  which  hovers  between  Europe 
and  Africa,  between  civilization  and  barbarism :  this  land  of  the 
green  valley  and  barren  mountain,  of  the  boundless  plain  and  the 
broken  sierra ;  those  Elysian  gardens  of  the  vine,  the  olive,  the 
orange,  and  the  aloe ;  those  trackless,  vast,  silent,  uncultivated 
wastes,  the  heritage  of  the  wild  bee ; — in  flying  from  the  dull 
uniformity,  the  polished  monotony  of  Europe,  to  the  racy  fresh- 
ness of  that  original,  unchanged  country,  where  antiquity  treads 
on  the  heels  of  to-day,  where  Paganism  disputes  the  very  altar 
with  Christianity,  where  indulgence  and  luxury  contend  with 
privation  and  poverty,  where  a  want  of  all  that  is  generous  or 
merciful  is  blended  with  the  most  devoted  heroic  virtues,  where  „ 
the  most  cold-blooded  cruelty  is  linked  with  the  fiery  passions  of 
Africa,  where  ignorance  and  erudition  stand  in  violent  and  stri- 
king contrast. 

"  There,'7  says  the  Handbook,  in  a  style  which  qualifies  the 
author  for  the  best  bound  and  fairest  edited  album,  "let  the  anti- 
quarian pore  over  the  stirring  memorials  of  many  thousand  years, 
the  vestiges  of  Phoenician  enterprise,  of  Roman  magnificence,  of 
Moorish  elegance,  in  that  storehouse  of  ancient  customs,  that  re- 
pository of  all  elsewhere  long  forgotten  and  passed  by  ;  there  let 
him  gaze  upon  those  classical  monuments,  unequalled  almost  in^ 
Greece  or  Italy,  and  on  those  fairy  Aladdin  palaces,  the  creatures 
of  Oriental  gorgeousness  and  imagination,  with  which  Spain  alone 
can  enchant  the  dull  European  ;  there  let  the  man  of  feeling  dwell 
on  the  poetry  of  her  envy-disarming  decay,  fallen  from  her  high 
estate,  the  dignity  of  a  dethroned  monarch,  borne  with  unrepining 
self-respect,  the  last  consolation  of  the  innately  noble,  which  no 
adversity  can  take  away ;  let  the  lover  of  art  feed  his  eyes  with 


374  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  mighty  masterpieces  of  ideal  Italian  art,  when  Raphael  and 
Titian  strove  to  decorate  the  palaces  of  Charles,  the  great  empe- 
ror of  the  age  of  Leo  X.  Let  him  gaze  on  the  living  nature  of 
Velazquez  and  Murillo,  whose  paintings  are  truly  to  be  seen  in 
Spain  alone ;  let  the  artist  sketch  frowning  forms  of  the  castle, 
the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  cathedral,  where  God  is  worshipped 
in  a  manner  as  nearly  befitting  his  glory  as  the  arts  and  wealth 
of  finite  man  can  reach.  Let  him  dwell  on  the  Gothic  gloom  of 
the  cloister,  the  feudal  turret,  the  vasty  Escorial,  the  rock-built 
alcazar  of  imperial  Toledo,  the  sunny  towers  of  stately  Seville, 
the  eternal  snows  and  lovely  vega  of  Granada  ;  let  the  geologist 
clamber  over  mountains  of  marble,  and  metal-pregnant  sierras ; 
let  the  botanist  cull  from  the  wild  hothouse  of  nature  plants  un- 
known, unnumbered,  matchless  in  color,  and  breathing  the  aroma 
of  the  sweet  south ;  let  all,  learned  and  unlearned,  listen  to  the 
song,  the  guitar,  the  castanet ;  or  join  in  the  light  fandango  and 
spirit-stirring  bull-fight ;  let  all  mingle  with  the  gay,  good-hu- 
mored, temperate  peasantry,  free,  manly,  and  independent,  yet 
courteous  and  respectful ;  let  all  live  with  the  noble,  dignified, 
high-bred,  self-respecting  Spaniard  ;  let  all  share  in  their  easy, 
,  courteous  society  ;  let  all  admire  their  dark-eyed  women,  so  frank 
and  natural,  to  whom  the  voice  of  all  ages  and  nations  has  con- 
ceded the  palm  of  attraction,  to  whom  Venus  has  bequeathed  her 
magic  girdle  of  grace  and  fascination  ;  let  all — but  enough  on 
starting  on  this  expedition,  "  where,"  as  Don  Quixotte  said, 
"  there  are  opportunities,  brother  Sancho,  of  putting  our  hands 
into  what  are  called  adventures  up  to  our  elbows." 

Nor  was  the  La  Manchan  hidalgo  wrong  in  assigning  a  some- 
what adventurous  character  to  the  searchers  in  Spain  for  useful 
and  entertaining  knowledge,  since  the  natives  are  fond,  and  with 
jmuch  reason,  of  comparing  themselves  and  their  country  to  tesoros 
escondidos,  to  hidden  treasures,  to  talents  buried  in  napkins  ;  but 
they  are  equally  fond  of  turning  round,  and  falling  foul  of  any 
pains-taking  foreigner  who  digs  them  up,  as  Le  Sage  did  the  soul 
of  Pedro  Garcias.  Nothing  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land  creates  greater  suspicion  or  jealousy  than  a  stranger's 
making  drawings,  or  writing  down  notes  in  a  book:  whoever  is 
observed  sacando  planes,  "  taking  plans,"  mapeando  el  pais,  t(  map 


SUSPICION   OF   OBSERVERS.  275 

ping  the  country,"— r for  such  are  the  expressions  of  the  simplest 
pencil  sketch — is  thought  to  be  an  engineer,  a  spy,  and,  at  all 
events,  to  be  about  no  good.  The  lower  classes,  like  the  Orien- 
tals, attach  a  vague  mysterious  notion  to  these,  to  them  unintelli- 
gible, proceedings  ;  whoever  is  seen  at  work  is  immediately  re- 
ported to  the  civil  and  military  authorities,  and,  in  fact,  in  out-of- 
the-way  places,  whenever  an  unknown  person  arrives,  from  the 
rarity  of  the  occurrence,  he  is  the  observed  of  all  observers. 
Much  the  same  occurs  in  the  East,  where  Europeans  are  suspect- 
ed of  being  emissaries  of  their  governments,  as  neither  they  nor 
Spaniards  can  at  all  understand  why  any  man  should  incur  trou- 
ble and  expense,  which  no  native  ever  does,  for  the  mere  purpose 
of  acquiring  knowledge  of  foreign  countries,  or  for  his  own  pri- 
vate improvement  or  amusement.  Again,  whatever  particular 
investigations  or  questions  are  made  by  foreigners,  about  things 
that  to  the  native  appear  unworthy  of  observation,  are  magnified 
and  misrepresented  by  the  many,  who,  in  every  place,  wish  to 
curry  favor  with  whoever  is  the  governor  or  chief  person,  whe- 
ther civil  or  military.  The  natives  themselves  attach  little  or  no 
importance  to  views,  ruins,  geology,  inscriptions,  and  so  forth, 
which  they  see  every  day,  and  which  they  therefore  conclude  can- 
not be  of  any  more,  or  ought  not  to  be  of  more,  interest  to  the 
stranger.  They  judge  of  him  by  themselves;  few  men  ever 
draw  in  Spain,  and  those  who  do  are  considered  to  be  professional, 
and  employed  by  others. 

One  of  the  many  fatal  legacies  left  to  Spain  by  the  French, 
was  an  increased  suspicion  of  men  with  the  pencil  and  note-book. 
Previously  to  their  invasion  spies  and  agents  were  sent,  who,  un- 
der the  guise  of  travellers,  reconnoitred  the  land ;  and  then, 
casting  off  the  clothing  of  sheep,  guided  in  the  wolves  to  plunder 
and  destruction.  The  aged  prior  of  the  Merced,  at  Seville,  ob- 
served to  us,  when  pointing  out  the  empty  frames  and  cases  from 
whence  the  Messrs.  Soult  and  Co.  had  •'<  removed"  the  Murillos 
and  sacred  plate, — "  Lo  creira  usted — Will  your  Grace  believe  it, 
I  beheld  among  the  ladrones  a  person  who  grinned  at  me  when  I 
recognized  him,  to  whom,  some  time  before  the  invaders'  arrival, 
I  had  pointed  out  these  very  treasures.  Tonto  de  mi  f  Oh  ! 
simpleton  that  I  was,  to  take  a  gdbaclio  for  an  honest  man."  Yet 


^76  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

this  worthy  individual  was  decorated  with  the  legion  of  honor  of 
Buonaparte,  whose  "  first  note  in  his  pocket-book"of  agenda,  after 
the  conquest  of  England,  was  to  "carry  off  the  Warwick  vase  ;" 
as  Denon,  who  too  had  spoiled  the  Egyptians,  told  Sir  E.  Tomason. 
We  English,  whose  shops,  "  bursting  with  opulence  into  the 
streets,"  have  not  yet  been  visited,  although  the  temptation  is 
held  out  by  royal  pamphleteers,  can  scarcely  enter  into  the  feel- 
ings of  those  whose  homes  are  still  reeking  with  blood,  and 
blighted  by  poverty.  The  Castilian  cat,  who  has  been  scalded, 
flies  even  from  cold  water. 

Some  excuse,  therefore,  may  be  alleged  in  favor  of  Spanish 
authorities,  especially  in  rarely  visited  districts,  when  they  be- 
hold a  strange  barbarian  eye  peeping  and  peering  about.  Their 
first  impression,  as  in  the  East,  is  that  he  may  be  a  Frank  :  hence 
the  shaking,  quaking,  and  ague  which  comes  over  them.  At 
Seville,  Granada,  and  places  where  foreign  artists  are  somewhat 
more  plentiful,  the  processes  of  drawing,  may  be  passed  over  with 
pity  and  contempt,  but  in  lonely  localities  the  star-gazing  observer 
is  himself  the  object  of  argus-eyed,  official  observation.  He  is, 
indeed,  as  unconscious  of  the  portentous  emotions  and  ill-omened 
fears  which  he  is  exciting,  as  was  the  innocent  crow  of  the  mean- 
ings attached  to  his  movements  by  the  Roman  augurs,  and  few 
augurs  of  old  ever  rivalled  the  Spanish  alcaldes  of  to-day  in 
quick  suspicion  and  perception  of  evil,  especially  where  none  is 
intended.  Witness  what  actually  occurred  to  three  excellent 
friends  of  ours. 

The  readers  of  Borrow's  inimitable  <  Bible  in  Spain7  will  re- 
member his  hair-breadth  escape  from  being  shot  for  Don  Carlos  by 
the  miraculous  intervention  of  the  alcalde  of  Corcubion,  who,  if 
still  alive,  must  be  a  phoenix,  and  clearly  worth  observation,  as 
he  was  a  reader  of  the  "  grand  Baintham,"  or  our  illustrious 
Jeremy  Bentham,  to  whom  the  Spanish  reformers  sent  for  a  paper 
constitution,  not  having  a  very  clear  meaning  of  the  word  or 
thing,  whether  it  was  made  of  cotton  or  parchment.  Another  of 
the  very  best  investigators  and  writers  on  Spain,  Lord  Carnarvon, 
was  nearly  put  to  death  in  the  same  districts  for  Don  Miguel : 
Captain  Widdrington,  also  one  of  the  kindest  and  most  honorable 
of  men,  was  once  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  an  agent  of 


DRAWING  IN  SPAIN.  277 

Espartero  j  and  we,  our  humble  selves,  have  had  the  felicity  of 
being  marched  to  a  guard-house  for  sketching  a  Roman  ruin,  and 
the  honor  of  being  taken,  either  for  Curius  Dentatus,  an  alligator, 
or  Julius  Csesar, — as  there  is  no  absurdity,  no  inconceivable 
ignorance,  too  great  for  the  local  Spanish  "  Dogberries,"  who 
rarely  deviate  into  sense  ;  when  their  fears  or  suspicions  are 
roused,  they  are  as  deaf  alike  to  the  dictates  of  common  reason  or 
humanity  as  adders  or  Berbers ;  and  here,  as  in  the  East,  even 
the  best  intentioned  may  be  taken  up  for  spies,  and  have  their 
beards,  at  least,  cut  off,  as  was  done  to  King  David's  envoyes.  All 
classes,  in  regard  to  strangers,  generally  get  some  hostile  notions 
Into  their  heads,  and  then,  instead  of  fairly  and  reasonably  endea- 
voring to  arrive  at  the  truth,  pervert  every  innocent  word,  and  • 
twist  every  action,  to  suit  their  own  preconceived  nonsense,  until 
trifles  become  to  their  jealous  minds  proofs  as  strong  as  Holy 
Writ.  In  justice,  however,  it  must  be  said,  that  when  these 
authorities  are  once  satisfied  that  the  stranger  is  an  Englishman, 
and  that  no  harm  is  intended,  no  people  can  be  more  civil  in 
offering  assistance  of  every  kind,  especially  the  lower  classes, 
who  gaze  at  the  magical  performance  of  drawing  with  wonder ; 
the  higher  classes  seldom  take  any  notice,  partly  from  courtesy, 
and  much  from  the  nil  admirari  principle  of  Orientals,  which 
conceals  both  inferiority  and  ignorance,  and  shows  good  breeding. 
The  drawing  any  garrison-town  or  fortified  place  in  Spain  is 
now  most  strictly  forbidden.  The  prevailing  ignorance  of  every- 
thing connected  with  the  arts  of  design  is  so  great,  that  no  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  the  most  regular  plan  and  the  merest 
artistical  sketch  :  a  drawing  is  with  them  a  drawing,  and  punish- 
able as  such.  A  Spanish  barrack,  garrison,  or  citadel  is  there- 
fore to  be  observed  but  little,  and  still  less  to  be  sketched.  A 
gentleman,  nay,  a  lady  also,  is  liable,  under  any  circumstances, 
when  drawing  to  be  interrupted,  and  often  is  exposed  to  arrest 
and  incivility.  Indeed,  whether  an  artist  or  not,  it  is  as  well  not 
to  exhibit  any  curiosity  in  regard  to  matters  connected  with  mili- 
tary buildings  ;  nor  will  the  loss  be  great,  as  they  are  seldom 
worth  looking  at.  The  troops  in  our  time  were  in  a  most  ad- 
mired  disorder.  If  they  wore  shoes  they  had  no  stockings ;  if 
they  had  muskets,  flints  were  not  plentiful ;  if  powder  was  sup- 


278  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


plied,  balls  were  scarce  ;  nothing,  in  short,  was  ever  according 
to  regulation.  Nay,  the  buttons  even  on  the  officers'  coats  were 
never  dressed  in  file  :  some  had  the  numbers  up,  some  down, 
some  awry  ;  but  uniformity  is  a  thing  of  Europe  and  not  of  the 
East.  At  this  moment,  when  the  church  is  starved,  when  wi- 
dows' pensions  are  unpaid,  when  governmental  bankruptcy  walks 
the  land,  whose  bones,  marrow,  and  all  are  wasted  to  support 
the  army,  whose  swords  uphold  the  hated  men  in  office,  the  bands 
of  the  Royal  Guard,  the  Praetorian  bands,  do  not  keep  tune,  nor 
do  the  rank  and  file  march  in  time.  However  painful  these 
things  to  pipe-clay  martinets,  the  artist  loses  much,  by  not  being 
able  to  sketch  such  tumble-down  forts  and  ragged  garrisons, 
each  Bisono  of  which  is  more  precious  to  painter  eye  than  the 
officer  in  command  at  Windsor ;  while  his  short  petticoated 
querida  is  more  Murillo-like  than  a  score  of  patronesses  of  Al- 
mack's. 

The  safest  plan  for  those  who  want  to  observe,  and  xto  book 
what  they  observe,  is  to  obtain  a  Spanish  passport,  with  the  object 
of  their  curiosity  and  inquiries  clearly  specified  in  it.  There  is 
seldom  any  difficulty  at  Madrid,  if  application  be  made  through 
the  English  minister,  in  obtaining  such  a  document;  indeed, 
when  the  applicant  is  well  known,  it  is  readily  given  by  any  of 
the  provincial  Captains-General.  As  it  is  couched  in  the  Span- 
ish language,  it  is  understood  by  all,  high  and  low  ;  an  advan- 
tage which  is  denied  in  Spain  to  those  issued  by  our  ambassa- 
dors, and  even  by  the  Foreign  Office,  who,  to  the  credit  of  them- 
selves and  nation,  give  passes  to  Englishmen  in  the  French  lan- 
guage, whereby  among  Spaniards  a  suspicion  arises  that  the 
bearer  may  be  a  Frenchman,  which  is  not  always  pleasant.  We 
preserve  among  rare  Peninsular  relics  a  passport  granted  by  our 
kind  patron  the  redoubtable  Conde  de  Espana,  and  backed  by 
the  no  less  formidable  Quesada  and  Sarsfield,  in  which  it  was 
enjoined,  in  choice,  intelligible  Castilian,  to  all  and  every  minor 
rulers  and  governors,  whether  with  the  pen  or  sword,  to  aid  and 
assist  the  bearer  in  his  examination  of  the  fine  arts  and  antiquities 
of  the  Peninsula.  These  autocrats  were  more  implicitly  obeyed 
in  their  respective  Lord  Lieutenancies  than  Ferdinand  himself; 
in  fact,  the  pashas  of  the  East  are  their  exact  types,  each  in 


ORIENTAL  ANALOGIES.  270 


their  district  being  the  heads  of  both  civil  and  military  tribunals  ; 
and  as  they  not  only  administer,  but  suit  the  law  according  to  the 
length  of  their  own  feet,  they  in  fact  make  it  and  trample  upon  it, 
and  all  in  any  authority  below  them  imitate  their  superiors  as 
nearly  as  they  dare.  These  things  of  Spain  are  managed  with  a 
gravity  truly  Oriental,  both  jn  the  rulers  and  in  the  resignation 
of  those  ruled  by  them  ;  these  great  men's  passport  and  signa- 
ture were  obeyed  by  all  minor  authorities  as  simplicitly  as  an 
Oriental  firman  ;  the  very  fact  of  a  stranger  having  a  Captain- 
General's  passport,  is  soon  known  by  everybody,  and,  to  use  an 
Oriental  phrase,  "  makes  his  face  to  be  whitened  ;"  it  acts  as  a 
letter  of  introduction,  and  is  in  truth  the  best  one  of  all,  since  it 
is  addressed  to  people  in  power  in  each  village  or  town,  who, 
true  sheikhs,  are  looked  up  to  by  all  below  them  with  the  same 
deference,  as  they  themselves  look  up  to  all  above  them.  The 
worth  of  a  person  recommended,  is  estimated  by  that  of  the  per- 
son who  recommends  ;  tal  recomendacion  tal  recomendado.  To 
complete  this  thing  of  Oriental  Spain,  these  three  omnipotent  des- 
pots, who  defied  laws  human  and  divine,  who  made  dice  of  their 
enemies  bones,  and  goblets  of  their  skulls,  have  all  since  been 
assassinated,  and  sent  to  their  account  with  all  their  sins  on  their 
heads.  In  limited  monarchies  ministers  who  go  too  far,  lose  their 
places,  in  Spain  and  Turkey  their  heads  :  the  former,  doubtless, 
are  the  most  severely  punished. 

Those  who  wish  to  observe  Spanish  man,  which,  next  to  Span- 
ish woman,  forms  the  proper  study  of  mankind,  will  find  that 
one  key  to  decipher  this  singular  people  is  scarcely  European, 
for  this  Berberia  Cristiana  is  a  neutral  ground  placed  between  the 
hat  and  the  turban ;  many  indeed  of  themselves  contend  that  Af- 
rica begins  at  the  Pyrenees.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Spain  first  civil- 
ized by  the  Phoenicians,  and  long  possessed  by  the  Moors,  has  in- 
delibly retained  the  original  impressions.  Test  her,  therefore, 
and  her  males  and  females,  by  an  Oriental  standard,  how  analo- 
gous does  much  appear  that  is  strange  and  repugnant,  if  com- 
pared with  European  usages.  Take  care,  however,  not  to  let 
either  the  ladies  or  gentlemen  know  the  hidden  processes  of  your 
mind,  for  nothing  gives  greater  offence.  The  fair  sex  is  willing, 
to  prevent  such  a  mistake,  to  lay  aside  even  their  becoming  man- 


280  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 


tUlas,  as  their  hidalgos  doff  their  stately  Roman  cloaks.  These 
old  clothes  they  offer  up  as  sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  civilization, 
and  to  the  mania  of  looking  exactly  like  the  rest  of  the  world, 
in  Hyde  Park  and  the  Elysian  Fields. 

Another  remarkable  Oriental  trait  is  the  general  want  of  love 
for  the  beautiful  in  art,  and  the  abundance  of  that  Aydoxaha 
with  which  the  ancients  reproached  the  genuine  Iberians ;  this  is 
exhibited  in  the  general  neglect  and  indifference  shown  towards 
Moorish  works,  which  instead  of  destroying  they  ought  rather  to 
have  protected  under  glasses,  since  such  attractions  are  peculiar 
to  the  Peninsula.  The  Alhambra,  the  pearl  and  magnet  of 
Granada,  is  in  their  estimation  little  better  than  a  casa  de  ratones, 
or  a  rat's  hole,  which  in  truth  they  have  endeavored  to  make  it  by 
centuries  of  neglect ;  few  natives  even  go  there,  or  understand 
the  all-absorbing  interest,  the  concentrated  devotion,  which  it  ex- 
cites in  the  stranger ;  so  the  Bedouin  regards  the  ruins  of  Pal- 
myra, insensible  to  present  beauty,  as  to  past  poetry  and  ro- 
mance. Sad  is  this  non-appreciation  of  the  Alhambra  by  the 
Spaniards,  but  such  are  Asiatics,  with  whom  sufficient  for  the 
day  is  their  to-day  ;  who  care  neither  for  the  past  nor  for  the  fu- 
ture, who  think  only  for  the  present  and  themselves,  and  like 
them  the  masses  of  Spaniards,  although  not  wearing  turbans,  lack 
the  organs  of  veneration  and  admiration  for  anything  beyond 
matters  cot  nected  with  the  first  person  and  the  present  tense. 
Again,  the  leaven  of  hatred  against  the  Moor  and  his  relics  is  not 
extinct ;  they  resent  as  almost  heretical  the  preference  shown  by 
foreigners  to  the  works  of  infidels  rather  than  to  those  of  good 
Catholics ;  such  preference  again  at  once  implies  their  inferiority, 
and  convicts  them  of  bad  taste  in  their  non-appreciation,  and  of 
Vandalism  in  laboring  to  mutilate,  what  the  Moor  labored  to 
adorn.  The  charming  writings  of  Washington  Irving,  and  the 
admiration  of  European  pilgrims,  have  latterly  shamed  the  au- 
thorities into  a  somewhat  more  conservative  feeling  towards  the 
Alhambra ;  but  even  their  benefits  are  questionable  ;  they  "  repair 
and  beautify"  on  the  churchwarden  principle,  and  there  is  no  less 
danger  in  such  "  restorations"  than  in  those  fatal  scourings  of 
Murillo  and  Titian  in  the  Madrid  gallery,  which  are  effacing  the 
lines  where  beauty  lingers.  Even  their  tardy  appreciation  is 


FAMILIARITY  BREEDS   CONTEMPT.  28- 

somewhat  interested  :  thus  Mellado,  in  his  late  Guide,  laments 
that  there  should  be  no  account  of  the  Alhambra,  of  which  he 
speaks  coldly,  and  suggests,  as  so  many  "  English"  visit  it,  that 
a  descriptive  work  would  be  a  segura  especulacion  !  a  safe  specu- 
lation !  Thus  the  poetry  of  the  Moorish  Alharnbra  is  coined  into 
the  Spanish  prose  of  profitable  shillings  and  sixpences. 

Travellers  however  should  not  forget,  that  much  which  to  them 
has  the  ravishing,  enticing  charms  of  novelty,  is  viewed  by  the 
dull  sated  eye  of  the  native,  with  familiarity  which  breeds  con- 
tempt ;  they  are  weary,  oh  fatal  lassitude  !  even  of  the  beautiful  : 
alas !  exclaimed  the  hermit  on  Monserrat,  to  the  stranger  who 
was  ravished  by  exquisite  views,  then  and  there  beheld  by  him 
for  the  first  and  last  time,  "  all  this  has  no  attraction  for  me ; 
twenty  and  nine  are  the  years  that  I  have  seen  this  unchanged 
scene,  every  sunrise,  every  noon,  every  sunset."  But  sordent 
domestica,  observes  Pliny,  nor  are  all  things  or  persons  honored 
in  their  own  homes  as  they  ought  to  be,  since  the  days  that  Ma- 
homet the  true  prophet  failed  to  persuade  his  wife  and  valet  that 
his  powers  were  supernatural.  Can  it  be  wondered  that  ruins 
and  "old  rubbish"  should  be  held  cheap  among  the  Moro-Span- 
iards  ?  or  that  their  so-called  "  guides"  should  mislead  and 
misdirect  the  stranger  ?  It  cannot  well  be  avoided,  since  few  of 
the  writers  ever  travel  in  their  own  country,  and  fewer  travel  out 
of  it;  thus  from  their  limited  means  of  comparison,  they  cannot 
appreciate  differences,  nor  tell  what  are  the  wants  and  wishes  of 
a  foreigner :  accordingly,  scenes,  costumes,  ruins,  usages,  cere- 
monies, &c.,  which  they  have  known  from  childhood,  are  passed 
over  without  notice,  although,  from  their  passing  newness  to  the 
stranger,  they  are  exactly  what  he  most  desii'es  to  have  pointed 
out  and  explained.  Nay,  the  natives  frequently  despise  or  are 
ashamed  of  those  very  things,  which  most  interest  and  charm  the 
foreigner,  for  whose  observation  they  select  the  modern  rather 
than  the  old,  offering  especially  their  poor  pale  copies  of  Europe, 
in  preference  to  their  own  rich,  racy,  and  natural  originals,  doing 
this  in  nothing  more  than  in  the  costume  and  dwellings  of  the 
lower  classes,  who  happily  are  not  yet  afflicted  with  the  disease 
of  French  polish  :  they  indeed,  when  they  dig  up  ancient  coins, 
will  rub  off  the  precious  rust  of  twice  ten  hundred  years,  in  order 


282  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

to  render  them,  as  they  imagine,  more  saleably  attractive ;  but 
they  fortunately  spare  themselves,  insomuch  that  Charles  III.,  on 
failing  in  one  of  his  laudable  attempts  to  improve  and  modernize 
them,  compared  his  loving  subjects  to  naughty  children,  who 
quarrel  with  their  good  nurse  when  she  wants  to  wash  them. 

Again,  no  country  in  the  world  can  vie  with  Spain,  where  the 
dry  climate  at  least  is  conservative,  with  memorials  of  auld  lang 
syne,  with  tower  and  turret,  Prout-like  houses  and  toppling  bal- 
conies, so  old  that  they  seem  only  not  to  fall  into  the  torrents  and 
ravines  over  which  they  hang.  Here  is  every  form  and  color  of 
picturesque  poverty ;  vines  clamber  up  the  irregularities,  while 
below  maids  dabble,  washing  their  red  and  yellow  garments  in 
the  all-gilding  glorious  sunbeams.  What  a  picture  it  is  to  all  but 
the  native,  who  sees  none  of  the  wonders  of  lights  and  shadows, 
reflections,  colors,  and  outlines  ;  who,  blind  to  all  the  beauties, 
is  keenly  awake  only  to  the  degradation,  the  rags  and  decay ; 
he  half  suspects  that  your  sketch  and  admiration  of  a  smuggler 
or  a  bullfighter  is  an  insult,  and  that  you  are  taking  it,  in  order 
to  show  in  England  what  Mons.  Guizot  will  never  be  forgiven  for 
calling  the  "  brutal"  things  of  Spain  ;  accordingly,  while  you 
are  sincerely  and  with  reason  delighted  with  sashes  and  Zamarras, 
he  begs  you  to  observe  his  ridiculous  Boulevard-cut  coat :  or  when 
you  sit  down  opposite  to  a  half-ruined  Roman  wall,  some  crum- 
bling Moorish  arch,  or  mediaeval  Gothic  shrine,  he  implores  you  to 
come  away  and  draw  the  last  spick  and  span  Royal  Academical 
abortion,  coldly  correct  and  classically  dull,  in  order  to  carry 
home  a  sample  which  may  do  credit  to  Spain,  as  approximating 
to  the  way  things  are  managed  at  Charing  Cross. 

Without  implicitly  following  the  advice  of  these  Spaniards  of 
better  intention  than  taste,  no  man  of  research  will  undervalue 
any  assistance  by  which  his  objects  are  promoted,  even  should 
he  be  armed  with  a  captain-general's  passport,  and  a  red  Mur- 
ray. Meagre  is  the  oral  information  which  is  to  be  obtained  from 
Spaniards  on  the  spot ;  these  incurious  semi-Orientals  look  with 
jealousy  on  the  foreigner,  and  either  fence  with  him  in  their 
answers,  raise  difficulties,  or,  being  highly  imaginative,  magnify 
or  diminish  everything  as  best  suits  their  own  views  and  sus- 
picions. The  national  expressions,  "  Quien  sabc  ?  no  se  sabe" — 


DIFFICULTIES    OF   SIGHT-SEEING.  283 

"who  knows?  I  do  not  know/"'  will  often  be  the  prelude  to  "No 
se  puede," — "  it  can't  be  done." 

These  impediments  and  impossibilities  are  infinitely  increased 
when  the  stranger  has  to  do  with  men  in  office,  be  it  ever  so 
humble  ;  the  first  feeling  of  these  Dogberries  is  to  suspect  mischief 
and  give  refusals.  "  No"  may  be  assumed  to  be  their  natural 
answer  ;  nor  even  if  you  have  a  special  order  of  permission,  is  ad- 
mission by  any  means  certain.  The  keeper,  who  here  as  elswhere, 
considers  the  objects  committed  to  his  care  as  his  own  private  pro- 
perty and  source  of  perquisite,  must  be  conciliated  :  often  when 
you  have  toiled  through  the  heat  and  dust  to  some  distant  church, 
museum,  library,  or  what  not,  after  much  ringing  and  waiting, 
you  will  be  dryly  informed  that  it  is  shut,  can't  be  seen,  that  it 
is  the  wrong  day,  that  you  must  call  again  to-morrow  ;  and  if  it 
be  the  right  day,  then  you  will  be  told  that  the  hour  is  wrong, 
that  you  are  come  too  early,  too  late  ;  very  likely  the  keeper's 
wife  will  inform  you  that  he  is  out,  gone  to  mass,  or  market,  or  at 
his  dinner,  or  at  his  siesta,  or  if  he  is  at  home  and  awake,  he  will 
swear  that  his  wife  has  mislaid  the  key,  "  which  she  is  always 
doing."  If  all  these  and  other  excuses  won't  do,  and  you  perse- 
vere, you  will  be  assured  that  there  is  nothing  worth  seeing,  or 
you  will  be  asked  why  you  want  to  see  it  1  As  a  general  rule, 
no  one  should  be  deterred  from  visiting  anything,  because  a  Span- 
iard of  the  upper  classes  gives  his  opinion  that  the  object  is  be- 
neath  notice;  he  will  try  to  convince  you  that  Toledo,  Cuenca, 
and  other  places  which  cannot  be  matched  in  Christendom,  are 
ugly,  odious,  old  cities  ;  he  is  ashamed  of  them  because  the  tor- 
tuous, narrow  lanes  do  not  run  in  rows  as  straight  as  Pall  Mall 
and  the  Rue  de  Rivoli.  In  fact  his  only  notion  of  a  civilized 
town  is  a  common-place  assemblage  of  rectangular  wide  streets, 
all  built  and  colored  uniformly,  like  a  line  of  foot-soldiers,  paved 
with  broad  flags,  and  lighted  with  gas,  on  which  Spaniards  can 
walk  about  dressed  as  Englishmen,  and  Spanish  women  like  those 
of  France  ;  all  of  which  said  wonders  a  foreigner  may  behold 
far  better  nearer  home  ;  nor  is  it  much  less  a  waste  of  time  to  go 
and  see  what  the  said  Spaniard  considers  to  be  a  real  lion,  since 
the  object  generally  turns  out  to  be  some  poor  imitation,  without 
form,  angle,  history,  nationality,  color,  or  expression,  beyond  that 


284  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

of  utilitarian  comfort  and  common-place  convenience — great 
advantages  no  doubt  both  to  contractors  and  political  economists, 
but  death  and  destruction  to  men  of  the  pencil  and  note-book. 

The  sound  principles  in  Spanish  sight-seeing  are  few  and  sim- 
ple, but,  if  observed,  they  will  generally  prove  successful  ;  first, 
persevere  ;  never  be  put  back  •  never  take  an  answer  if  it  be  in 
the  negative  ;  never  lose  temper  or  courteous  manners  ;  and 
lastly,  let  the  tinkle  of  metal  be  heard  at  once  ;  if  the  chief  or 
great  man  be  inexorable,  find  out  privately  who  is  the  wretched 
sub  who  keeps  the  key,  or  the  crone  who  sweeps  the  rv  om  ;  and 
then  send  a  discreet  messenger  to  say  that  you  will  pay  10  be  ad- 
mitted, without  mentioning  "  nothing  to  nobody."  Thus  you  will 
always  obtain  your  view,  even  when  an  official  order  fails.  On 
our  first  arrival  at  Madrid,  when  but  young  in  these  things  of 
Spain,  we  were  desirous  of  having  daily  permission  to  examine  a 
royal  gallery,  which  was  only  open  to  the  public  on  certain  days  in 
the  week.  In  our  grave  dilemma  we  consulted  a  sage  and  expe- 
rienced diplomatist,  and  this  was  the  oracular  reply :  "  Certainly, 
if  you  wish  it,  I  will  make  a  request  to  Senor  Salmon  (the  then 
Home  Secretary),  and  beg  him  to  give  you  the  proper  order,  as  a 
personal  favor  to  myself.  By  the  way,  how  much  longer  shall 
you  remain  here  ?" — "  From  three  to  four  weeks." — "  Well,  then, 
after  you  have  been  gone  a  good  month,  I  shall  get  a  courteous 
and  verbose  epistle  from  his  Excellency,  in  which  he  will  deeply 
regret  that,  on  searching  the  archives  of  his  office,  there  was  no 
instance  of  such  a  request  having  ever  been  granted,  and  that  he 
is  compelled  most  reluctantly  to  return  a  refusal,  from  the  fear  of 
a  precedent  being  created.  My  advice  to  you  is  to  give  the  por- 
ter a  dollar,  to  be  repeated  whenever  the  door-hinges  seem  to  be 
getting  rusty  and  require  oiling."  The  hint  was  taken,  as  was 
the  bribe,  and  the  prohibited  portals  expanded  so  regularly,  that 
at  last  they  knew  the  sound  of  our  footsteps.  Gold  is  the  Spanish 
sesame.  Thus  Soult  got  into  Badajoz,  thus  Louis  Philippe  put  Es- 
partero  out,  and  Montpensier  in.  Gold,  bright  red  gold,  is  the  sove- 
reign remedy  which  in  Spain  smoothes  all  difficulties,  nay  some  in 
which  even  force  has  failed,  as  here  the  obstinate  heads  may  be 
guided  by  a  straw  of  bullion,  but  not  driven  by  a  bar  of  iron. 
The  magic  influence  of  a  bribe  pervades  a  land,  where  evory- 


OFFICIAL  CORRUPTION.  285 

thing  is  venal,  even  to  the  scales  of  justice.  Here  men  who  have 
objects  to  gain  begin  to  work  from  the  bottom,  not  from  the  top, 
as  we  do  in  England.  In  order  to  ensure  success,  no  step  in  the 
official  ladder  must  be  left  unanointed.  A  wise  and  prudent 
suitor  bribes  from  the  porter  to  the  premier,  taking  care  not  to 
forget  the  under-secretary,  the  over-secretary,  the  private  secre- 
tary, all  in  their  order,  and  to  regulate  the  douceur  according  to 
each  man's  rank  and  influence.  If  you  omit  the  porter,  he  will 
not  deliver  your  card,  or  will  say  Senor  Mon  is  out,  or  will  tell 
you  to  call  again  manana,  the  eternal  to-morrow.  If  you  forget 
the  chief  clerk,  he  will  mislay  your  petition,  or  poison  his  mas- 
ter's ear.  In  matters  of  great  and  political  importance,  the  sove- 
reign, him  or  herself,  must  have  a  share;  and  thus  it  was  that 
Calomarde  continued  so  long  to  manage  the  beloved  Ferdinand 
and  his  counsels.  He  was  the  minister  who  laid  the  greatest  bribe 
at  the  royal  feet.  u  Sire,  by  strict  attention  and  honesty,  I  have 
just  been  enabled  to  economize  £50,000,  on  the  sums  allotted  to 
my  department,  which  I  have  now  the  honor  and  felicity  to  place 
at  your  Majesty's  disposal." — "  Well  done,  my  faithful  and  good 
minister,  here  is  a  segar  for  you."  This  Calomarde,  who  began 
life  as  a  foot-boy,  smuggled  through  the  Christinist  swindle,  by 
which  Isabel  now  wears  the  crown  of  Don  Carlos.  The  rogue 
was  rewarded  by  being  made  Conde  de  Sa.  Isabel,  a  title  which 
since  has  been  conferred  on  Mons.  Bresson's  baby — a  delicate 
compliment  to  his  sire's  labors  in  the  transfer  of  the  said  crown  to 
Louis  Philippe — but  Spaniards  are  full  of  dry  humor. 

In  the  East,  the  example  and  practice  of  the  Sultan  and  Vizier 
is  followed  by  every  pacha,  down  to  the  lowest  animal  who  wields 
the  most  petty  authority ;  the  disorder  of  the  itching  palm  is  en- 
demic and  epidemic,  all,  whether  high  and  low,  want,  ar>d  must 
have  money  ;  all  wish  to  get  it  without  the  disgrace  of  begging, 
and  without  the  danger  of  highway  robbery.  Public  poverty  is 
the  curse  of  the  land,  and  all  empleados  or  persons  in  office  excuse 
themselves  on  dire  necessity,  the  old  plea  of  a  certain  gentleman, 
which  has  no  law.  Some  allowance,  therefore,  may  be  made  for 
the  rapacity  which,  with  very  few  exceptions,  prevails ;  the  regu- 
lar salaries,  always  inadequate,  are  generally  in  arrear,  and  the 
public  servants,  poor  devils,  swear  that  they  are  forced  to  pay 


286  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

themselves  by  conniving  at  defrauding  the  government ;  this  few 
scruple  to  do,  as  all  know  it  to  be  an  unjust  one,  and  that  it  can 
afford  it ;  indeed,  as  all  are  offenders  alike,  the  guilt  of  the  offence 
is  scarcely  admitted.  Where  robbing  and  jobbing  are  the  uni- 
versal order  of  the  day,  one  rascal  keeps  another  in  countenance, 
as  one  goitre  does  another  in  Switzerland.  A  man  who  does  not 
feather  his  nest  when  in  place,  is  not  thought  honest,  but  a  fool ; 
es  precise,  que  cada  uno  coma  de  su  oficio.  It  is  necessary,  nay,  a 
duty,  as  in  the  East,  that  all  should  live  by  their  office  ;  and  as  of- 
fice is  short  and  insecure,  no  time  or  means  is  neglected  in  making 
up  a  purse  ;  thus  poverty  and  their  will  alike  and  readily  consent. 

Take  a  case  in  point.  We  remember  calling  on  a  Spaniard 
who  held  the  highest  office  in  a  chief  city  of  Andalucia.  As  we 
came  into  his  cabinet  a  cloaked  personage  was  going  out ;  the 
great  man's  table  was  covered  with  gold  ounces,  which  he  was 
shovelling  complacently  into  a  drawer,  gloating  on  the  glorious 
haul.  "  Many  ounces,  Excellency,"  said  we.  "  Yes,  my  friend," 
was  his  reply — "  no  quiero  comer  mas  patatas, — I  do  not  intend  to 
dine  any  more  on  potatoes."  This  gentleman,  during  the  Sistema, 
or  Riego  constitution,  had,  with  other  loyalists,  been  turned  out  of 
office  ;  and,  having  been  put  to  the  greatest  hardships,  was  losing 
no  time  in  taking  prudent  and  laudable  precautions  to  avert  any 
similar  calamity  -fep  the  future.  His  practices  were  perfectly 
well  known  in  the  town,  where  people  simply  observed,  "  Estd 
cttesorando,  he  is  laying  up  treasures," — as  every  one  of  them 
would  most  certainly  have  done,  had  they  been  in  his  fortunate 
position.  Rich  and  honest  Britons,  therefore,  should  not  judge 
too  hardly  of  the  sad  shifts,  the  strange  bed-fellows,  with  which 
want  makes  the  less  provided  Spaniards  acquainted.  Donde  no 
hay  abundancia,  no  hay  observancia.  The  empty  sack  cannot 
stand  upright,  nor  was  ever  a  sack  made  in  Spain  into  wTiich  gain 
and  honor  could  be  stowed  away  together ;  honra  y  provecho,  no 
caben  en  un  saco  o  techo  ;  here  virtue  itself  succumbs  to  poverty, 
induced  by  more  than  half  a  century  of  misgovernment,  let  alone 
the  ruin  caused  by  Buonaparte's  invasion,  to  which  domestic 
troubles  and  civil  wars  have  been  added. 

To  return,  however,  to  sight-seeing  in  Spain.  Lucky  was  the 
traveller  prepared  even  to  bribe  and  pay,  who  ever  in  our  time 


A   QUESTION   OP   DAYS.  287 

chanced  to  fall  in  with  a  librarian  who  knew  what  books  he  had, 
or  with  a  priest  who  could  tell  what  pictures  were  in  his  chapel ; 
ask  him  for  the  painting  by  Murillo — a  shoulder-shrug  was  his 
reply,  or  a  curt  "  no  hay"  "  there  is  none  :"  had  you  inquired  for 
the  "  blessed  St.  Thomas,"  then  he  might  have  pointed  it  out ;  the 
subject,,  not  the  artist,  being  all  that  was  required  for  the  service 
of  the  church.  An  incurious  bliss  of  ignorance  is  no  less  grateful 
to  the  Spanish  mind,  than  the  dolce  far  niente  or  sweet  indolent 
doing  nothing  is  to  the  body.  All  that  gives  trouble,  or  "  fashes," 
destroys  the  supreme  height  of  felicity,  which  consists  in  avoiding 
exertion.  A  chapter  might  be  filled  with  instances,  which,  had 
they  not  occurred  to  our  humble  selves,  would  seem  caricature 
inventions.  The  not  to  be  able  to  answer  the  commonest  question, 
or  to  give  any  information  as  to  matters  of  the  most  ordinary  daily 
occurrence,  is  so  prevalent,  that  we  at  first  thought  it  must  pro- 
ceed from  some  fear  of  committal,  some  remnant  of  inquisitorial 
engendered  reserve,  rather  than  from  bona  fide  careless  and  con- 
tented ignorance.  The  result,  however  of  much  intercourse  and 
experience  arrived  at,  was,  that  few  people  are  more  communica- 
tive than  the  lower  classes  of  Spaniards,  especially  to  an  English- 
man, to  whom  they  reveal  private  and  family  secrets :  their  want 
of  knowledge  applies  rather  to  things  than  to  persons. 

If  you  called  on  a  Spanish  gentleman,  and,  finding  him  out, 
wished  afterwards  to  write  him  a  note,  and  inquired  of  his  man 
or  maid  servant  the  number  of  the  house ; — "  I  do  not  know,  my 
lord,"  was  the  invariable  answer,  "  I  never  was  asked  it  before,  I 
have  never  looked  for  it :  let  us  go,  out  and  see.  Ah  !  it  is  num- 
ber 36."  Wishing  once  to  send  a  parcel  by  the  wagon  from 
Merida  to  Madrid,  "  On  what  day,  my  lord,"  said  I  to  the  pot-bel- 
lied, black-whiskered  ventero,  "  does  your  galera  start  for  the 
Court?"  "Every  Wednesday,"  answered  he;  "  and  let  not 
your  grace  be  anxious" — "  Disparate — nonsense,"  exclaimed  his 
copper-skinned,  bright-eyed  wife,  "  why  do  you  tell  the  English 
knight  such  lies  ?  the  wagon,  my  lord,  sets  out  on  Fridays." 
During  the  logomachy,  or  the  few  words  which  ensued  between 
the  well-matched  pair,  our  good  luck  willed,  that  the  mayoral  or 
driver  of  the  vehicle  should  come  in,  who  forthwith  informed  us 
that  the  days  of  departure  wera  Thursdays  ;  and  he  was  right. 


288  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

This  occurred  in  the  provinces  ;  take,  therefore,  a  parallel  pas- 
sage in  the  capital,  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  Castiles.  "  Senor, 
tenga  listed  la  bondad — My  Lord,"  said  I  to  a  portly,  pompous 
bureaucrat,  who  booked  places  in  the  dilly  to  Toledo, — "  have 
the  goodness,  your  grace,  to  secure  me  one  for  Monday,  the 
7th." — "  I  fear,"  replied  he,  politely,  for  the  negocio  had  been 
prudently  opened  by  my  offering  him  a  real  Havannah,  "  that 
your  lordship  has  made  a  mistake  in  the  date.  Monday  is  the 
8th  of  the  current  month" — which  it  was  not.  Thinking  to  settle 
the  matter,  we  handed  to  him,  with  a  bow,  the  almanack  of  the 
year,  which  chanced  to  be  in  our  pocket-book.  "Senor,19  said 
he,  gravely,  when  he  had  duly  examined  it,  "  I  knew  that  I  was 
right ;  this  one  was  printed  at  Seville," — which  it  was — "  and 
we  are  here  at  Madrid,  which  is  otra  cosa,  that  is,  altogether  an- 
other affair."  In  this  solar  difference  and  pre-eminence  of  the 
Court,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  sun,  at  its  creation,  first 
shone  over  the  neighboring  city,  to  which  the  dilly  ran  ;  and  that 
even  in  the  last  century,  it  was  held  to  be  heresy  at  Salamanca, 
to  say  that  it  did  not  move  round  Spain.  In  sad  truth,  it  has 
there  stood  still  longer  than  in  astronomical  lectures  or  metaphors. 
Spain  is  no  paradise  for  calculators  ;  here,  what  ought  to  happen, 
and  what  would  happen  elsewhere  according  to  Cocker  and  the 
doctrine  probabilities,  is  exactly  the  event  which  is  the  least 
likely  to  come  to  pass.  One  arithmetical  fact  only  can  be  reck- 
oned upon  with  tolerable  certainty  :  let  given  events  be  repre- 
sented by  numbers  ;  then  two  and  two  may  at  one  time  make 
three,  or  possibly  five  at  another  ;  but  the  odds  are  four  to  one 
against  two  and  two  ever  making  four ;  another  safe  rule  in 
Spanish  official  numbers  ;  e.  g.  "  five  thousand  men  killed  and 
wounded" — "  five  thousand  dollars  will  be  given"  and  so  forth,  is 
to  deduct  two  noughts,  and  sometimes  even  three,  and  read  fifty 
or  five  instead.  « 

Well  might  even  the  keen-sighted,  practical  Duke  say  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  understand  the  Spaniards  exactly  ;  there  neither  men  nor 
women,  suns  nor  clocks  go  together  ;  there,  as  in  a  Dutch  con- 
cert, all  choose  their  own  tune  and  time,  each  performer  in  the 
orchestra  endeavoring  to  play  the  first  fiddle.  All  this  is  so 
much  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  natives,  like  the  Irish,  make  a 


CERTAINTY  OF   BULL-FTGHTS.  2S9 

joke  of  petty  mistakes,  blunders,  unpunctualities,  inconsequences, 
and  procurantisms,  at  which  accurate  Germans  and  British  men 
of  business  are  driven  frantic.  Made  up  of  contradictions,  and 
dwelling  in  the  pays  de  Pimprevu,  where  exception  is  the  rule, 
where  accident  and  the  impulse  of  the  moment  are  the  moving 
powers,  the  happy-go-lucky  natives,  especially  in  their  collective 
capacity,  act  like  women  and  children.  A  spark,  a  trifle,  sets  the 
impressionable  masses  in  action,  and  none  can  foresee  the  com- 
monest event ;  nor  does  any  Spaniard  ever  attempt  to  guess  be- 
yond la  situation  actual-,  the  actual  present,  or  to  foretell  what  the 
morrow  will  bring  •  that  he  leaves  to  the  foreigner,  who  does 
not  understand  him.  Paciencia  y  larajar  is  his  motto  ;  and  he 
waits  patiently  to  see  what  next  will  turn  up  after  another 
shuffle. 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  which  all  know  exactly,  one  ques- 
tion which  all  can  answer ;  and  providentially  this  refers  to  the 
grand  object  of  every  foreigner's  observation — "  When  will  the 
bull-fight  be  and  begin  ?"  and  this  holds  good,  notwithstanding 
that  there  is  a  proviso  inserted  in  the  notices,  that  it  will  come  off 
on  such  a  day  and  hour,  "  if  the  weather  permits."  Thus,  al- 
though these  spectacles  take  place  in  summer,  when  for  months 
and  months  rain  and  clouds  are  matters  of  history,  the  cautious 
authorities  doubt  the  blessed  sun  himself,  and  mistrust  the  cer- 
tainty of  his  proceedings,  as  much  as  if  they  were  ir-regulated  by 
a  Castilian  clockmaker. 

PART  IT.  14 


290  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

Origin  of  the  Bull-fight  or  Festival,  and  its  Religious  Character — Fiestas 
Reales — Royal  Feasts — Charles  I.  at  one — Discontinuance  of  the  Old 
System — Sham  Bull-fights — Plaza  de  Toros — Slang  Language — Spanish 
Bulls— Breeds— The  Going  to  a  Bull-fight. 

OUR  honest  John  Bulls  have  long  been  more  partial  to  their 
Spanish  namesakes,  than  even  to  those  perpetrated  by  the  Pope, 
or  made  in  the  Emerald  Isle ;  to  see  a  bull-fight  has  been  the  em- 
phatic object  of  enlightened  curiosity,  since  Peninsular  sketches 
have  been  taken  and  published  by  our  travellers.  No  sooner  bad 
Charles  the  First,  when  prince,  lost  his  heart  at  Madrid,  than  his 
royal  father-in-law-that-was-to-be,  regaled  him  and  the  fair  in- 
spirer  of  his  tender  passion,  with  one  of  these  charming  specta- 
cles ;  an  event  which,  as  many  men  and  animals  were  butchered, 
was  thought  by  historiographers  of  the  day  to  be  one  that  pos- 
terity would  not  willingly  let  die  ;  their  contemporary  accounts 
will  ever  form  the  gems  of  every  tauromachian  library  that 
aspires  to  be  complete. 

These  sports,  which  recall  the  bloody  games  of  the  Roman  am- 
phitheatre, are  now  only  to  be  seen  in  Spain,  where  the  present 
clashes  with  the  past,  where  at  every  moment  we  stumble  on 
some  bone  and  relic  of  Biblical  and  Roman  antiquity  ;  the  close 
parallels,  nay  the  identities,  which  are  observable  between  these 
combats  and  those  of  classical  ages,  both  as  regards  the  spectators 
and  actors,  are  omitted,  as  being  more  interesting  to  the  scholar 
than  to  the  general  reader  ;  they  were  pointed  out  by  us  some  years 
ago  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  No.  cxxiv.  And  as  human  nature 
changes  not,  men  when  placed  in  given  and  similar  circumstan- 
ces, will  without  any  previous  knowledge  or  intercommunication 
arrive  at  nearly  s'milar  results  ;  the  gentle  pastime  of  spearing 
and  killing  bulls  in  public  and  single-handed  was  probably  de- 
vised by  tbe  Moors,  or  rather  by  the  Spanish  Moors,  for  nothing 


BULL  FESTIVALS.  .          291 


of  the  kind  has  ever  obtained  in  Africa  either  now  or  heretofore. 
The  fyloslem  Arab,  when  transplanted  into  a  Christian  and  Eu- 
ropean land,  modified  himself  in  many  respects  to  the  ways  and 
usages  of  the  people  among  whom  he  settled,  just  as  his  Oriental , 
element  was  widely  introduced  among  his  Gotho-Hispano  neigh- 
bors.  Moorish  Andalucia  is  still  the  head-quarters  of  the  tau- 
romachian  art,  and  those  who  wish  carefully  to  master  this, 
the  science  of  Spain  par  excellence,  should  commence  their 
studies  in  the  school  of  Ronda,  and  proceed  thence  to  take  the 
highest  honors  in  the  University  of  Seville,  the  Bullford  of  the 
Peninsula. 

By  the  way,  our  boxing,  baiting  term  bull-fight  is  a  very  lay 
and  low  translation  of  the  time-honored  Castilian  title,  Fiestas  de 
Toros,  the  feasts,  festivals  of  bulls.  The  gods  and  goddesses  of 
antiquity  were  conciliated  by  the  sacrifice  of  hecatombs ;  the 
lowing  tickled  their  divine  ears,  and  the  purple  blood  fed  their 
eyes,  no  less  than  the  roasted  surloins  fattened  the  priests,  while 
the  grand  spectacle  and  death  delighted  their  dinnerless  congre- 
gations. In  Spain,  the  Church  of  Rome,  never  indifferent  to  its 
interests,  instantly  marshalled  into  its  own  service  a  ceremonial 
at  once  profitable  and  popular  ;*  it  consecrated  butchery  by 
wedding  it  to  the  altar,  availing  itself  of  this  gentle  handmaid,  to 
obtain  funds  in  order  to  raise  convents ;  even  in  the  last  century, 
Papal  bulls  were  granted  to  mendicant  orders,  authorizing  them 
to  celebrate  a  certain  number  of  Fiestas  de  Toros,  on  condition  of 
devoting  the  profit  to  finishing  their  church  ;  and  in  order  to  swell 
the  receipts  at  the  doors,  spiritual  indulgences  and  soul  releases 
from  purgatory,  the  number  of  years  being  apportioned  to  the 
relative  prices  of  the  seats,  were  added  as  a  bonus  to  all  paid  for 
places  at  a  spectacle  hallowed  by  a  pious  object.  So  at  the 
taurololia  of  antiquity,  those  who  were  sprinkled  with  bull  blood 
were  absolved  from  sin.  Protestant  ministers,  who  very  properly 
fear  and  distrust  papal  bulls,  replace  thorn  by  bazaars  and  fancy 

*  The  love  for  killing  oxen  still,  prevails  at  Rome,  where  the  ambition 
of  the  lower  orders  to  be  a  butcher,  is,  like  their  white  costume,  a  remnant 
of  the  honorable  office  of  killing  at  the  Pagan  sacrifices.  In  Spain  butchers 
are  of  the  lowest  caste,  and  cannot  prove  "  purity  of  blood."  Francis  I. 
never  forgave  the  "  Becajo  de  Parigi "  applied  by  Dante  to  his  ancestor. 


292  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR   COUNTRY. 

fairs,  whenever  a  fashionable  chapel  requires  a  new  blue  slate  roof- 
ing. Again,  when  not  devoted  to  religious  purposes,  every  bull- 
fight aids  the  cause  of  charity ;  the  profits  form  the  chief  income 
of  public  hospitals,  and  thus  furnish  both  funds  and  patients,  as 
the  venous  circulation  of  the  mob  thirsting  for  gore,  rises  to  blood 
heat  under  a  sun  of  fire,  and  the  subsequent  mingling  of  sexes, 
opening  of  bottles  and  knives,  occasion  more  deaths  among  the 
lords  and  ladies  of  the  Spanish  creation,  than  among  the  horned 
and  hoofed  victims  of  the  amphitheatre. 

It  is  a  common  but  very  great  mistake,  to  suppose  that  bull- 
fights are  as  numerous  in  Spain  as  bandits;  it  is  just  the  con- 
trary, for  this  may  there  be  considered  the  tip-top  aesthetic  treat, 
as  the  Italian  Opera  is  in  England,  and  both  are  rather  expensive 
amusements  ;  true  it  is  that  with  us,  only  the  salt  of  the  earth 
patronizes  the  performers  of  the  Hayrnarket,  while  high  and  low, 
vulgar  and  exquisite,  alike  delight  in  those  of  the  Spanish  fields. 
Each  bull-fight  costs  from  2007.  to  3007.,  and  even  more  when  got 
up  out  of  Andalucia  or  Madrid,  which  alone  can  afford  to  support 
a  standing  company ;  in  other  cities  the  actors  and  animals  have 
to  be  sent  for  express,  and  from  great  distances.  Hence  the  re- 
presentations occur  like  angels'  visits,  few  and  far  between  ;  they 
are  reserved  for  the  chief  festivals  of  the  church  and  crown,  for 
the  unfeigned  devotion  of  the  faithful  on  the  holy  days  of  local 
saints,  and  the  Virgin  ;  they  are  also  given  at  the  marriages  and 
coronations  of  the  sovereign,  and  thence  are  called  Fiestas  reales, 
Royal  festivals — the  ceremonial  being  then  deprived  of  its  re- 
ligious character,  although  it  is  much  increased  in  worldly  and 
imposing  importance.  The  sight  is  indeed  one  of  surpassing 
pomp,  etiquette,  and  magnificence,  and  has  succeeded  to  the 
Auto  de  Fe,  in  offering  to  the  most  Catholic  Queen  and  her  sub- 
jects the  greatest  possible  means  of  tasting  rapture,  that  the 
limited  powers  of  mortal  enjoyment  can  experience  in  this  world 
of  shadows  and  sorrows. 

They  are  only  given  at  Madrid,  and  then  are  conducted  en- 
tirely after  the  ancient  Spanish  and  Moorish  customs,  of  which 
such  splendid  descriptions  remain  in  the  ballad  romances.  They 
take  place  in  the  great  square  of  the  capital,  which  is  then  con- 
verted into  an  arena.  The  windows  of  the  quaint  and  lofly 


AN  INVOLUNTARY  CHAMPION.  293 

houses  are  arranged  as  boxes,  and  hung  with  velvets  and  silks. 
The  royal  family  is  seated  under  a  canopy  of  state  in  the  balcony 
of  the  central  mansion.  There  we  beheld  Ferdinand  VII.  pre- 
siding at  the  solemn  swearing  of  allegiance  to  his  daughter.  He 
was  then  seated  where  Charles  I.  had  sat  two  centuries  before  ; 
he  was  guarded  by  the  unchanged  halbefdiers,  and  was  witness- 
ing the  unchanged  spectacle.  On  these  royal  occasions  the  bulls 
are  assailed  by  gentlemen,  dressed  and  armed  as  in  good  old 
Spanish  times,  before  the  fatal  Bourbon  accession  obliterated 
Castilian  costume,  customs,  and  nationality.  The  champions  clad 
in  the  fashions  of  the  Philips,  and  mounted  on  beauteous  barbs, 
the  minions  of  their  race,  attack  the  fierce  animal  with  only  a 
short  spear,  the  immemorial  weapon  of  the  Iberian.  The  com- 
batants must  be  hidalgos  by  birth,  and  have  each  for  a  padrino, 
or  godfather,  a  first- rate  grandee  of  Spain,  who  passes  before 
royalty  in  a  splendid  equipage  and  six,  and  is  attended  by  bands 
of  running  footmen,  who  are  arrayed  either  as  Greeks,  Romans, 
Moors,  or  fancy  characters.  It  is  not  easy  to  obtain  these  cabal- 
leros  en  plaza,  or  poor  knights,  who  are  willing  to  expose  their 
lives  to  the  imminent  dangers,  albeit  during  the  fight  they  have 
the  benefit  of  experienced  toreros  to  advise  their  actions  and  cover 
their  retreats. 

In  1833  a  gentle  dame,  without  the  privity  of  her  lord  and  hus- 
band, inscribed  his) name  as  one  of  the  champion  volunteers.  In 
procuring  him  this  agreeable  surprise,  she,  so  it  was  said  in 
Madrid,  argued  thus  :  "  Either  mi  marido  will  be  killed — in  that 
case  I  shall  get  a  new  husband  ;  or  he  will  survive,  in  which 
event  he  will  get  a  pension,"  She  failed  in  both  of  these  admi- 
rable calculations — such  is  the  uncertainty  of  human  events. 
The  terror  of  this  poor  h£ros  malgr£  lui,  on  whom  chivalry  had 
been  thrust,  was  absolutely  ludicrous  when  exposed  by  his  well- 
intentioned  better-half,  to  the  horns  of  'this  dilemma  and  bull. 
Any  other  horns,  my  dearest,  but  these  !  He  was  wounded  at 
the  first  rush,  did  survive,  and  did  not  get  a  pension  ;  for  Ferdi- 
nand died  soon  after,  and  few  pensions  have  been  paid  in  the 
Peninsula,  since  the  land  has  been  blessed  with  a  charte,  constitu- 
tion, liberty,  and  a  representative  government. 

One  anecdote,  where  another  lady  is  in  the  case,  may  be  new 


294  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

to  our  fair  readers.  We  quote  from  an  ancient  authentic  chroni- 
cler : — "  It  will  not  be  amiss  here  to  mention  what  fell  out  in  the 
presence  of  Charles  the  First  of  Blessed  Memory,  who,  while 
Prince  of  Wales,  repaired  to  the  court  of  Spain,  whether  to  be 
married  to  the  Infanta,  or  upon  what  other  design,  I  cannot  well 
determine :  however,  all  comedies,  playes,  and  festivals  (this  of 
the  bulls  at  Madrid  being  included),  were  appointed  to  be  as  de- 
cently and  magnificently  gone  about  as  possible,  for  the  more 
sumptuous  and  stately  entertainment  of  such  a  splendid  prince. 
Therefore,  after  three  bulls  had  been  killed,  and  the  fourth  a 
coming  forth,  there  appeared  four  gentlemen  in  good  equipage ; 
not  long  after,  a  brisk  lady,  in  most  gorgeous  apparel,  attended 
•  with  persons  of  quality,  and  some  three  or  four  grooms,  walked 
all  along  the  square  a-foot.  Astonishment  seized  upon  the  be- 
holders, that  one  of  the  female  sex  could  assume  the  unheard 
boldness  of  exposing  herself  to  the  violence  of  the  most  furious 
beast  yet  seen,  which  had  overcome,  yea  almost  killed,  two  men 
of  great  strength,  courage,  and  dexterity.  Incontinently  the  bull 
rushed  towards  the  corner  where  the  lady  and  her  attendants  stood ; 
she  (after  all  had  fled)  drew  forth  her  dagger  very  unconcernedly, 
and  thrust  it  most  dexterously  into  the  bull's  neck,  having  catched 
hold  of  his  horn  ;  by  which  stroke,  without  any  more  trouble, 
her  design  was  brought  to  perfection  ;  after  which,  turning  about 
towards  the  king's  balcony,  she  made  her  obeysance,  and  with- 
drew herself  in  suitable  state  and  gravity." 

At  the  jura  of  1833  ninety-nine  bulls  were  massacred;  had 
one  more  been  added  the  hecatomb  would  have  been  complete. 
These  wholesale  slaughterings  have  this  year  been  repeated  at 
the  marriage  of  the  same  "  innocent"  Isabel,  the  critical  events 
of  whose  life  are  death-warrants  to  quadrupeds.  Bulls,  however, 
represent  in  Spain  the  coronation  banquets  of  England.  In  that 
hungry,  ascetic  land,  bufls  have  always  been  killed,  but  uo  beef 
eaten ;  a  remarkable  fact,  which  did  not  escape  the  learned 
Justin  in  his  remarks  on  the  no-dinner-giving  crowned  heads  of 
old  Iberia. 

These  genuine  ancient  bull-fights  were  perilous  and  fatal  in  the 
extreme,  yet  knights  were  never  wanting — valor  being  the  point 
of  honor — who  readily  exposed  their  lives  in  sight  of  their  cruel 


RUIN   OF   OLD   BULL-FIGHT  295 

mistresses.  To  kill  the  monster  if  not  killed  by  him,  was,  before 
the  time  of  Hudibras,  the  sure  road  to  woman's  love,  who  very 
properly  admire  those  qualities  the  best,  in  which  they  feel  them- 
selves to  be  the  most  deficient : — 

"  The  ladies'  hearts  began  to  melt, 
Subdued  by  blows  their  lovers  felt ; 
So  Spanish  heroes,  with  their  lances, 
At  once  wound  bulls  and  ladies'  fancies/7 

The  final  conquest  of  the  Moors,  and  the  subsequent  cessation 
of  the  border  chivalrous  habits  of  the  Spaniards,  occasioned  these 
love-pastimes  to  fall  into  comparative  disuse.  The  gentle  Isa- 
bella was  so  shocked  at  the  bull-fights  which  she  saw  at  Medina 
del  Campo,  that  she  did  her  utmost  to  put  them  down ;  but  she 
strove  in  vain,  for  the  game  and  monarchy  were  destined  to  fall 
together.  The  accession  of  Philip  V.  deluged  the  Peninsula 
with  Frenchmen.  The  puppies  of  Paris  pronounced  the  Span- 
iards and  their  bulls  to  be  barbarous  and  brutal,  as  their  artistes 
to  this  day  prefer  the  ~bozuf  gras  of  the  Boulevards  to  whole  flocks 
of  Iberian  lean  kine.  The  spectacle  which  had  withstood  her 
influence,  and  had  beat  the  bulls  of  Popes  bowed  before  the  des- 
potism of  fashion.  The  periwigged  courtiers  deserted  the  arena, 
on  which  the  royal  Bourbon  eye  looked  coldly,  while  the  sturdy 
people,  foes — then  as  now — to  Frenchmen  and  innovations, 
clung  closer  to  the  sports  of  their  forefathers.  Yet  a  fatal  blow 
was  dealt  to  the  combat :  the  art,  once  practised  by  knights, 
degenerated  into  the  vulgar  butchery  of  mercenary  bull-fighter^ 
who  contended  not  for  honor,  but  base  lucre ;  thus,  by  be- 
coming the  game  of  the  mob,  it  was  soon  stripped  of  every 
gentlemanlike  prestige.  So  the  tournament  challenges  of  our 
chivalrous  ancestors  have  sunk  down  to  the  vulgar  boxings  of 
ruffian  pugilists. 

Baiting  a  bull  in  any  shape  is  irresistible  to  the  lower  orders 
of  Spain,  who  disregard  injuries  to  the  bodies,  and,  what  is 
worse,  to  their  cloaks.  The  hostility  to  the  horned  beast  is  in- 
stinctive, and  grows  with  their  growth,  until  it  becomes,  as  men 
are  but  children  of  a  larger  growth,  a  second  nature.  The 
young  urchins  in  the  streets  play  at  "  toro"  as  ours  do  at  leap- 


296  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

frog ;  they  go  through  the  whole  mimic  spectacle  amongst  each 
other,  observing  every  law  and  rule,  as  our  schoolboys  do  when 
they  fight.  Few  adult  Spaniards,  -when  journeying  through 
the  country  ever  pass  a  herd  of  cows  without  this  dormant  pro- 
pensity breaking  out ;  they  provoke  the  animals  to  fight  by 
waving  their  cloaks  or  capas,  a  challenge  hence  called  el  capeo. 
The  villagers,  who  cannot  afford  the  expense  of  a  regular  bull- 
fight, amuse  themselves  with  baiting  novillos,  or  bull-youngsters 
— calves  of  one  year  old  ;  and  enibolados,  or  bulls  whose  horns 
are  guarded  with  tips  and  buttons.  These  innocent  pastimes  are 
despised  by  the  regular  aficion,  the  "  fancy  ;"  because,  as  neither 
man  nor  beast  are  exposed  to  be  killed,  the  whole  affair  is  based 
in  fiction,  and  impotent  in  conclusion.  They  cry  out  for  Toros 
de  muerte — bulls  of  death.  Nothing  short  of  the  reality  of  blood 
can  allay  their  excitement.  They  despise  the  makeshift  specta- 
cle, as  much  as  a  true  gastronome  does  mock-turtle,  or  an  old  cam- 
paigner a  sham  fight. 

In  the  wilder  districts  of  Andalucia  few  cattle  are  ever  brought 
into  towns  for  slaughter,  unless  led  by  long  ropes,  and  partially 
baited  by  those  whose  poverty  prevents  their  indulgence  in  the 
luxury  of  real  bull-fights  and  beef.  The  governor  of  Tarifa  was 
wont  on  certain  days  to  let  a  bull  loose  into  the  streets,  when  the 
delight  of  the  inhabitants  was  to  shut  their  doors,  and  behold  from 
their  grated  windows  the  perplexities  of  the  unwary  or  strangers, 
pursued  by  him  in  the  narrow  lanes  without  means  of  escape. 
Although  many  lives  were  lost,  a  governor  in  our  time,  named 
Dalmau,  otherwise  a  public  benefactor  to  the  place,  lost  all  his 
popularity  in  the  vain  attempt  to  put  the  custom  down.  When 
the  Bourbon  Philip  V.  first  visited  the  placa  at  Madrid,  all  the 
populace  roared,  Bulls  !  give  us  bulls,  my  lord.  They  cared  little 
for  the  ruin  of  the  monarchy  ;  so  when  the  intrusive  Joseph  Buona- 
parte arrived  at  the  same  place,  the  only  and  absorbing  topic  of 
public  talk  was  whether  he  would  grant  or  suppress  the  bull- 
fight. And  now,  as  always,  the  cry  of  the  capital  is — "pan  y 
toros  ;  bread  and  bulls  :"  these  constitute  the  loaves  and  fishes  of 
the  "only  modern  court,"  as  Panes  et  Circenses  did  of  ancient 
Rome.  The  national  scowl  and  frown  which  welcomed  Mont- 
pensier  at  his  marriage,  was  relaxed  for  one  moment,  when 


THE  PLAZA  DE  TOROS.  297 

Spaniards  beheld  his  well-put-on  admiration  for  the  tauroma- 
chian  spectacle.  Nothing  since  the  recent  vast  improvements  in 
Spain  has  more  progressed  than  the  bull-fight — convents  have 
come  down,  churches  have  been  levelled,  but  new  amphitheatres 
have  arisen.  The  diffusion  of  useful  and  entertaining  knowledge, 
as  the  means  of  promoting  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest 
number,  has  thus  obtained  the  best  consideration  of  those  patriots 
and  statesmen  who  preside  over  the  destinies  of  Spain  •  the  bull  is 
master  of  his  ground.  This  last  remnant  and  representative  of 
Spanish  nationality  defies  the  foreigner  and  his  civilization ;  he  is 
a  fait  accompli  and  tramples  la  cliarte  under  his  feet,  although  the 
honest  Roi  citoyen  swears  that  it  is  desormais  une  veritt. 

In  Spain  there  is  no  mistaking  the  day  and  time  that  the  bull- 
fight takes  place,  which  is  generally  on  Saint  Monday,  and  in  the 
afternoon,  when  the  mid-day  heats  are  past. 

The  arena,  or  Plaza,  is  most  unlike  a  London  Place,  those  en- 
closures of  stunted  smoke- blacked  shrubs,  fenced  in  with  iron 
palisadoes  to  protect  aristocratic  nurserymaids  from  the  mob.  It 
is  at  once  more  classical  and  amusing.  The  amphitheatre  of 
Madrid  is  very  spacious,  being  about  1100  feet  in  circumference, 
and  will  hold  12,000  spectators.  In  an  architectural  point  of 
view  this  ring  of  the  model  court,  is  shabbier  than  many  of  those 
in  provincial  towns :  there  is  no  attempt  at  orders,  pilasters,  and 
Vitruvian  columns ;  there  is  no  adaptation  of  the  Coliseum  of 
Rome :  the  exterior  is  bald  and  plain,  as  if  done  so  on  purpose, 
while  the  interior  is  fitted  up  with  wooden  benches,  and  is  scarcely 
better  than  a  shambles ;  but  for  that  it  was  designed,  and  there  is 
a  business-like,  murderous  intention  about  it,  which  marks  the 
insesthetic  Gotho-Spaniard,  who  looked  for  a  sport  of  blood  and 
death,  and  not  to  a  display  of  artistical' skill.  He  has  no  need  of 
extraneous  stimulants ;  the  realiU  atroce,  as  a  tender-hearted  for- 
eigner observes,  "  is  all-sufficing,  because  it  is  the  recreation  of 
the  savage,  and  the  sublime  of  common  souls."  The  locality, 
however,  is  admirably  calculated  for  seeing;  and  this  combat  is  a 
spectacle  entirely  for  the  eyes.  The  open  space  is  full  of  the 
light  of  heaven,  and  here  the  sun  is  brighter  than  gas  or  wax- 
candles.  The  interior  is  as  unadorned  as  the  exterior,  and  looks 
positively  "  mesquin"  when  empty ;  around  the  sanded  centre 

14* 


298  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

rise  rows  of  wooden  seats  for  the  humbler  classes,  and  above  them 
a  tier  of  boxes  for  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  ;  but  no  sooner 
is  the  theatre  filled  than  all  this  meanness  is  concealed,  and  the 
general  appearance  becomes  superb. 

On  entering  the  ring  when  thus  full,  the  stranger  finds  his 
watch  put  back  at  once  eighteen  hundred  years ;  he  is  transported 
to  Rome  under  the  Caesars ;  and  in  truth  the  sight  is  glorious,  of 
the  assembled  thousands  in  their  Spanish  costume,  the  novelty  of 
the  spectacle,  associated  with  our  earliest  classical  studies,  are 
enhanced  by  the  blue  expanse  of  the  heavens,  spread  above  as  a 
canopy.  There  is  something  in  these  out-of-door  entertainments, 
a  I' antique,  which  peculiarly  affects  the  shivering  denizens  of  the 
catch-cold  north,  where  climate  contributes  so  little  to  the  happi- 
ness of  man.  All  first-rate  connoisseurs  go  into  the  pit  and  place 
themselves  among  the  mob,  in  order  to  be  closer  to  the  bulls  and 
combatants.  The  real  thing  is  to  sit  near  one  of  the  openings, 
which  enables  the  fancy-man  to  exhibit  his  embroidered  gaiters 
and  neat  leg.  It  is  here  that  the  character  of  the  bull,  the  nice 
traits  and  the  behavior  of  the  bull-fighter  are  scientifically  criti- 
cised. The  ring  has  a  dialect  peculiar  to  itself,  which  is  unintel- 
ligible to  most  Spaniards  themselves,  while  to  the  sporting-men  of 
Andalucia  it  expresses  their  drolleries  with  idiomatic  raciness,  and 
is  exactly  analogous  to  the  slang  and  technicalities  of  our  pugi- 
listic craft.  The  newspapers  next  day  generally  give  a  detailed 
report  of  the  fight,  in  which  every  round  is  scientifically  described 
in  a  style  that  defies  translation,  but  which  being  drawn  up  by 
some  Spanish  Boz,  is  most  delectable  to  all  who  can  understand 
it ;  the  nomenclature  of  praise  and  blame  is  defined  with  the  most 
accurate  precision  of  language,  and  the  delicate  shades  of  char- 
acter are  distinguished  with  the  nicety  of  phrenological  subdi- 
'  vision.  The  foundation  of  this  lingo  is  gipsy  Romany,  meta- 
phor, and  double  entendre;  to  master  it  is  no  easy  matter;  in- 
deed, a  distinguished  diplomat  and  tauromachian  philologist,  whom 
we  are  proud  to  call  our  friend,  was  often  unable  to  comprehend 
the  full  pregnancy  of  the  meaning  of  certain  terms,  without  a 
reference  10  the  late  Duke  of  San  Lorenzo,  who  sustained  the 
character  of  Spanish  ambassador  in  London  and  of  bull-fighter  in 
Madrid  with  equal  dignity  ;  his  grace  was  a  living  lexicon  of 


SPANISH  BULLS.  299 


slang.  Yet  let  no  student  be  deterred  by  any  difficulty,  since  he 
will  eventually  be  repaid,  when  he  can  fully  relish  the  Andalu- 
cian  wit,  or  sal  Andaluca,  the  salt,  with  which  the  reports  are 
flavored :  that  it  is  seldom  Attic  must,  however,  he  confessed. 
Nor  let  time  or  pains  be  grudged  ;  there  is  no  royal  road  to 
Euclid,  and  life,  say  the  Spanish  fancy,  is  too  short  to  learn  bull- 
fighting. This  possibly  may  seem  strange,  but  English  squires 
and  country  gentlemen  assert  as  much  in  regard  to  fox-hunting. 

The  day  appointed  for  a  bull-feast  is  announced  by  placards  of 
all  colors  ;  the  important  particulars  decorate  every  wall.  The 
first  thing  is  to  secure  a  good  place  beforehand,  by  sending  for  a 
Boletin  de  Sombra,  a  shade-ticket ;  and  as  the  great  object  is  to 
avoid  "'glare  and  heat,  the  best  places  are  on  the  northern  side, 
which  are  in  the  shade.  The  transit  of  the  sun  over  the  Plaza, 
the  zodiacal  progress  into  Taurus,  is  decidedly  the  best  calculated 
astronomical  observation  in  Spain  ;  the  line  of  shadow  defined  on 
the  arena  is  marked  by  a  gradation  of  prices.  The  different 
seats  and  prices  are  everywhere  detailed  in  the  bills  of  the  play, 
with  the  names  of  the  combatants  and  the  colors  of  the  different 
breeds  of  bulls. 

The  day  before  the  fight,  the  bulls  destined  for  the  spectacle  are 
driven  towards  the  town,  and  pastured  in  a  meadow  reserved  for 
their  reception  ;  then  the  fine  amateurs  never  fail  to  ride  out  to 
see  what  the  cattle  is  like,  just  as  the  knowing  in  horseflesh  go  to 
Tattersall's  of  a  Sunday  afternoon,  instead  of  attending  evening 
service  in  their  parish  churches.  According  to  Pepe  Illo,  who 
was  a  very  practical  man,  and  the  first  author  on  the  modern  sys- 
tem of  the  arena,  of  which  he  was  the  brightest  ornament,  and  on 
which  he  died  in  the  arms  of  victory,  the  "  love  of  bulls  is  inhe- 
rent in  man,  especially  in  the  Spaniard,  among  which  glorious 
people  there  have  been  bull-fights  ever  since  there  were  bulls, 
because  the  Spanish  men  are  as  much  more  brave  than  all  other 
men,  as  the  Spanish  bull  is  more  fierce  and  valiant  than  all  other 
bulls."  Certainly,  from  having  been  bred  at  large,  in  roomy  un- 
enclosed plains,  they  are  more  active  than  the  animals  raised  by 
John  Bull,  but  as  regards  form  and  power,  they  would  be  scouted 
in  an  English  cattle-show ;  a  real  British  bull,  with  his  broad 
neck  and  short  horns,  would  make  quick  work  with  the  men  and 


300  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

horses  of  Spain  ;  his  "  spears"  would  be  no  less  effective  than  the 
bayonets  of  our  soldiers,  which  no  foreigner  faces  twice,  or  the 
picks  of  our  Navvies,  three  and  three-eighths  of  whom  are  calcu- 
lated by  railway  economists  to  eat  more  beef  and  do  more  work 
than  five  and  five-eighths  of  corresponding  foreign  material.  By 
the  way,  the  correct  Castilian  word  for  the  bull's  horns  is  astas, 
the  Latin  hastas,  spears.  Cuernos  must  never  be  used  in  good 
Spanish  society,  since,  from  its  secondary  meaning,  it  might  give 
offence  to  present  company:  allusions  to  common  calamities  are 
never  made  to  ears  polite,  however  frequent  among  the  vulgar, 
who  call  things  by  their  improper  names — nay,  roar  them  out,  as 
in  the  time  of  Horace  :  "  Magna  compellens  voce  cucullum." 

Not  every  bull  will  do  for  the  Plaza,  and  none  but  the  fiercest 
are  selected,  who  undergo  trials  from  the  earliest  youth ;  the 
most  celebrated  animals  come  from  Utrera  near  Seville,  and  from 
the  same  pastures  where  that  eminent  breeder  of  old  Geryon  raised 
those  wonderful  oxen,  which  all  but  burst  with  fat  in  fifty  days, 
and  were  "  lifted"  by  the  invincible  Hercules.  Senor  Cabrera, 
the  modern  Geryon,  was  so  pleased  with  Joseph  Buonaparte,  or 
so  afraid,  that  he  offered  to  him  a  hundred  bulls,  as  a  hecatomb 
for  the  rations  of  his  troops,  who,  braver  and  hungrier  than  Her- 
cules, would  otherwise  have  infallibly  followed  the  demigod's  ex- 
ample. The  Manchegan  bull,  small,  very  powerful,  and  active, 
is  considered  to  be  the  original  stock  of  Spain ;  of  this  breed  was 
"  Manchangito,"  the  pet  of  the  Visconde  de  Miranda,  a  tauroma- 
chian  noble  of  Cordova,  and  who  used  to  come  into  the  dining- 
room,  but  having  one  day  killed  a  guest,  he  was  destroyed  after 
violent  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Viscount,  and  only  in  obe- 
dience to  the  peremptory  mandate  of  the  Prince  of  the  Peace. 

The  capital  is  supplied  with  animals  bred  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Jarama  near  Aranjuez,  which  have  been  immemorially  cele- 
brated. From  hence  came  that  Harpado,  the  magnificent  beast 
of  the  magnificent  Moorish  ballad  of  Gazul,  which  was  evidently 
written  by  a  practical  torero,  and  on  the  spot :  the  verses  sparkle 
with  daylight  and  local  color  like  a  Velazquez,  and  are  as 
minutely  correct  as  a  Paul  Potter,  while  Byron's  "  Bull-fight" 
is  the  invention  of  a  foreign  poet,  and  full  of  slight  inaccuracies. 

The  encierro,  or  the  driving  the  bulls  to  the  arena,  is  a  service 


THE  ENCIERRO.  301 


of  danger ;  they  are  enticed  by  tame  oxen,  into  a  road  which  is 
barricadoed  on  each  side,  and  then  driven  full  speed  by  the 
mounted  and  spear-bearing  peasants  into  the  Plaza.  It  is  an 
exciting,  peculiar,  and  picturesque  spectacle  ;  and  the  poor  who 
cannot  afford  to  go  to  the  bull-fight,  risk  their  lives  and  cloaks  in 
order  to  get  the  front  places,  and  best  chance  of  a  stray  poke  en 
passant. 

The  next  afternoon  all  the  world  crowds  to  the  Plaza  de  toros. 
You  need  not  ask  the  way  ;  just  launch  into  the  tide,  which  in 
these  Spanish  affairs  will  assuredly  carry  you  away.  Nothing 
can  exceed  the  gaiety  and  sparkle  of  a  Spanish  public  going, 
eager  and  full  dressed  to  thefght.  They  could  not  move  faster 
were  they  running  away  from  a  real  one.  All  the  streets  or 
open  spaces  near  the  outside  of  the  arena  present  of  themselves  a 
spectacle  to  the  stranger,  and  genuine  Spain  is  far  better  to  be 
seen  and  studied  in  the  streets,  than  in  the  saloon.  Now  indeed 
a  traveller  from  Belgravia  feels  that  he  is  out  .of  town,  in  a  new 
world  and  no  mistake ;  all  around  him  is  a  perfect  saturnalia,  all 
ranks  are  fused  in  one  stream  of  living  beings,  one  bloody  thought 
beats^in  every  heart,  one  heart  beats  in  ten  thousand  bosoms  ; 
every  other  business  is  at  an  end,  the  lover  leaves  his  mistress 
unless  she  will  go  with  him, — the  doctor  and  lawyer  renounce 
patients,  briefs,  and  fee  ;  the  city  of  sleepers  is  awakened,  and 
all  is  life,  noise,  and  movement,  where  to-morrow  will  be  the  still- 
ness and  silence  of  death  ;  now  the  bending  line  of  the  Calle  de 
Alcaldj  which  on  other  days  is  broad  and  dull  as  Portland  Place, 
becomes  the  aorta  of  Madrid,  and  is  scarcely  wide  enough  for  the 
increased  circulation ;  now  it  is  filled  with  a  dense  mass  colored 
as  the  rainbow,  which  winds  along  like  a  spotted  snake  to  its  prey. 
Oh  the  din  and  dust !  The  merry  mob  is  everything,  and,  like 
the  Greek  chorus,  is  always  on  the  scene.  How  national  and 
Spanish  are  the  dresses  of  the  lower  classes — for  their  betters 
alone  appear  like  Boulevard  quizzes,  or  tigers  cut  out  from  our 
East  end  tailors'  pattern-book  of  the  last  new  fashion  ;  what 
Manolas,  what  reds  and  yellows,  what  fringes  and  flounces, 
what  swarms  of  picturesque  vagabonds,  cluster,  or  alas,  clus- 
tered, around  calesas,  whose  wild  drivers  run  on  foot,  whipping, 
screaming,  swearing  ;  the  type  of  these  vehicles  in  form  and 


309.  THE  SPANIARDS   AND    THEIR   COUNTRY. 

color  was  Neapolitan ;  they  alas !  are  also  soon  destined  to  be 
nacrificed  to  civilization  to  the  'bus  and  common-place  cab,  or 
Tile  fly. 

The  plaza  is  the  foous  of  a  fire,  which  blood  alone  can  extin- 
guish ;  what  public  meetings  and  dinners  are  to  Britons,  reviews 
und  razzias  to  Gauls,  mass  or  music  to  Italians,  is  this  one  and 
•absorbing  bull-fight  to  Spaniards  of  all  ranks,  sexes,  ages,  for  their 
happiness  is  quite  catching ;  and  yet  a  thorn  peeps  among  these 
rosebuds  ;  when  the  dazzling  glare  and  fierce  African  sun  cal- 
cining the  heavens  and  earth,  fires  up  man  and  beast  to  madness, 
u  raging  thirst  for  blood  is  seen  in  flashing  eyes  and  the  irritable 
ready  knife,  then  the  passion  of  the  Arab  triumphs  over  the  cold- 
ness of  the  Goth  :  the  excitement  would  be  terrific  were  it  not  on 
pleasure  bent;  indeed  there  is  no  sacrifice,  even  of  chastity,  no 
denial,  even  of  dinner,  which  they  will  not  undergo  to  save  money 
for  the  bull-fight.  It  is  the  birdlime  with  which  the  devil  catches 
many  a  female  and  male  soul.  The  men  go  in  all  their  best  cos- 
tume and  wtfjo-finery  ;  the  distinguished  ladies  wear  on  these  oc- 
casions white  lace  mantillas,  and  when  heated,  look,  as  the  An- 
daluz  wag  Adrian  said,  like  sausages  wrapped  up  in  white  paper ; 
a  fan,  abanico,  is  quite  as  necessary  to  all  as  it  was  among  the 
Romans.  The  article  is  sold  outside  for  a  trifle,  and  is  made  of 
rude  paper,  stuck  into  a  handle  of  common  cane  or  stick,  and  the 
gift  of  one  to  his  nut-brown  querida  is  thought  a  delicate  attention 
to  her  complexion  from  her  swarthy  swain ;  at  the  same  time  the 
lower  Salamander  classes  stand  fire  much  better  on  these  occasions 
than  in  action,  and  would  rather  be  roasted  fanless  alive  a  la  auto 
defe  than  miss  these  hot  engagements. 

The  place  of  slaughter,  like  the  Abattoirs  on  the  Continent,  is 
erected  outside  the  towns,  in  order  to  obtain  space,  and  because 
horned  animals  when  overdriven  in  crowded  streets  are  apt  to  be 
ill-mannered,  as  may  be  seen  every  Smithfield  market-day  in  the 
City,  as  the  Lord  Mayor  well  knows. 

The  seats  occupied  by  the  mob  are  filled  more  rapidly  than  our 
shilling  galleries,  and  the  "  gods"  are  equally  noisy  and  impatient. 
The  anxiety  of  the  immortals,  wishes  to  annihilate  time  and  space 
and  make  bull-fanciers  happy.  Now  his  majesty  the  many  reigns 
triumphantly,  and  this — church  excepted — is  the  only  public 


SEAT   OF   THE   CLERGY.  303 


meeting  allowed ;  but  even  here,  as  on  the  Continent,  the  odious 
bayonet  sparkles,  and  the  soldier  picket  announces  that  innocent 
amusements  are  not  free  ;  treason  add  stratagem  are  suspected  by 
coward  despots,  when  one  sole  thought  of  pleasure  engrosses  every 
one  else.  All  ranks  are  now  fused  into  one  mass  of  homogeneous 
humanity  ;  their  good  humor  is  contagious ;  all  leave  their  cares 
and  sorrows  at  home,  and  enter  with  a  gaiety  of  heart  and  a  deter- 
mination to  be  amused,  which  defies  wrinkled  care ;  many  and 
not  over-delicate  are  the  quips  and  quirks  bandied  to  and  fro,  with 
an  eloquence  more  energetic  than  unadorned ;  things  arid  persons 
are  mentioned  to  the  horror  of  periphrastic  euphuists ;  the  liberty 
of  speech  is  perfect,  and  as  it  is  all  done  quite  in  a  parliamentary 
way  none  take  offence.  Those  only  who  cannot  get  in  are  sad  ; 
these  rejected  ones  remain  outside  grinding  their  teeth,  like  the 
unhappy  ghosts  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  Styx,  and  listen  anxiously 
to  the  joyous  shouts  of  the  thrice  blessed  within. 

At  Seville  a  choice  box  in  the  shade  and  to  the  right  of  the 
president  is  allotted  as  the  seat  of  honor  to  the  canons  of  the  cathe- 
dral, who  attend  in  their  clerical  costumes ;  and  such  days  are 
fixed  upon  for  the  bull-fight  as  will  not,  by  a  long  church  service, 
prevent  their  coming.  The  clergy  of  Spain  have  always  been 
the  most  uncompromising  enemies  of  the  stage,  where  they  never 
go  ;  yet  neither  the  cruelty  nor  profligacy  of  the  amphitheatre  has 
ever  roused  the  zeal  of  their  most  elect  or  most  fanatic;  our  pu- 
ritans at  least  assailed  the  bear-bait,  which  induced  the  Cavalier 
Hudibras  to  defend  them ;  so  our  methodists  denounced  the  bull- 
bait,  which  was  therefore  patronized  by  the  Right  Hon.  W.  Wind- 
ham,  in  the  memorable  debate  May  24,  1802,  on  Mr.  Dog  Dent. 
The  Spanish  clergy  pay  due  deference  to  bulls,  both  papal  and 
quadruped  ;  they  dislike  being  touched  on  this  subject,  and  gene- 
rally reply  "  Es  costumbre — it  is  the  custom — siempre  se  ha  prati- 
cado  asi — it  has  always  been  done  so,  or  son  cosas  de  Espana, 
they  are  things  of  Spain" — the  usual  answer  given  as  to  every- 
thing which  appears  incomprehensible  to  strangers,  and  which 
they  either  can't  account  for,  or  do  not  choose.  In  vain  did  St. 
Isidore  write  a  chapter  against  the  amphitheatre — his  chapter 
minds  him  not ;  in  vain  did  Alphonso  the  Wise  forbid  their  at- 


304  THE   SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

tendance.  The  sacrifice  of  the  bull  has  always  been  mixed  up 
with  the  religion  of  old  Rome  and  old  and  modern  Spain,  where 
they  are  classed  among  acts*  of  charity,  since  they  support  the 
sick  and  wounded ;  therefore  all  the  sable  countrymen  of  Loyola 
hold  to  the  Jesuitical  doctrine  that  the  end  justifies  the  means. 


COMMENCEMENT   OF   THE   BULL-FIGHT.  305 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

The  Bull-fight — Opening  of  Spectacle — First  Act,  and  Appearance  of  the 
Bull— The  Picador— Bull  Bastinado— The  Horses,  and  their  Cruel 
Treatment — Fire  and  Dogs — The  Second  Act — The  Chulos  and  their 
Darts— The  Third  Act— The  Matador— Death  of  the  Bull— The  Con- 
clusion, and  Philosophy  of  the  Amusement — Its  Eff ect  on  Ladies. 

WHEN  the  appointed  much-wished-for  hour  is  come,  the  Queen 
or  the  Corregidor  takes  the  seat  of  honor  in  a  central  and  splendid 
hox,  the  mob  having  been  previously  expelled  from  the  open 
arena  ;  this  operation  is  called  the  despejo,  and  is  an  amusing  one, 
from  the  reluctance  with  which  the  great  unwashed  submit  to  be 
cleaned  out.  The  proceedings  open  at  a  given  signal  with  a 
procession  of  the  combatants,  who  advance  preceded  by  alguaciles, 
or  officers  of  police,  who  are  dressed  in  the  ancient  Spanish  cos- 
tume, and  are  always  at  hand  to  arrest  any  one  who  infringes  the 
severe  laws  against  interruptions  of  the  game.  Then  follow  the 
picadores,  or  mounted  horsemen,  with  their  spears.  Their  original 
broad-brimmed  Spanish  hats  are  decorated  with  ribbons  ;  their 
upper  man  is  clad  in  a  gay  silken  jacket,  whose  lightness  con- 
trasts with  the  heavy  iron  and  leather  protections  of  the  legs, 
which  give  the  clumsy  look  of  a  French  jackbooted  postillion. 
These  defences  are  necessary  when  the  horned  animal  charges 
home.  Next  follow  the  chulos,  or  combatants  on  foot,  who  are 
arrayed  like  Figaro  at  the  opera,  and  have,  moreover,  silken 
cloaks  of  gay  colors.  The  matadores,  or  killers,  come  behind 
them  ;  and,  last  of  all,  a  gaily-caparisoned  team  of  mules,  which 
is  destined  to  drag  the  slaughtered  bulls  from  the  arena.  As  for 
the  men,  those  who  are  killed  on  the  spot  are  denied  the  burial- 
rites  if  they  die  without  confession.  Springing  from  the  dregs 
of  the  people,  they  are  ^eminently  superstitious,  and  cover  their 
breasts  with  relics,  amulets,  and  papal  charms.  A  clergyman, 


306  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

however,  is  in  attendance  with  the  sacramental  wafer,  in  case  su 
majestad  may  be  wanted  for  a  mortally- wounded  combatant. 

Having  made  their  obeisances  to  the  chief  authority,  all  retire, 
and  the  fatal  trumpet  sounds ;  then  the  president  throws  the  key 
of  the  gate  by  which  the  bull  is  to  enter,  to  one  of  the  alguaciles, 
who  ought  to  catch  it  in  his  hat.  When  the  door  is  opened,  this 
worthy  gallops  away  as  fast  as  he  can,  amid  the  hoots  and  hisses 
of  the  mob,  not  because  he  rides  like  a  constable,  but  from  the 
instinctive  enmity  which  his  majesty  the  many  bear  to  the  finisher 
of  the  law,  just  as  little  birds  love  to  mob  a  hawk ;  now  more 
than  a  thousand  kind  wishes  are  offered  up  that  the  bull  may  catch 
and  toss  him.  The  brilliant  army  of  combatants  in  the  mean- 
while separates  like  a  bursting  shell,  and  take  up  their  respective 
places  as  regularly  as  our  fielders  do  at  a  cricket-match. 

The  play,  which  consists  of  three  acts,  then  begins  in  earnest ; 
the  drawing  up  of  the  curtain  is  a  spirit-stirring  moment ;  all 
eyes  are  riveted  at  the  first  appearance  of  the  bull  on  this  stage, 
as  no  one  can  tell  how  he  may  behave.  Let  loose  from  his  dark 
cell,  at  first  he  seems  amazed  at  the  novelty  of  his  position  ;  torn 
from  his  pastures,  imprisoned  and  exposed,  stunned  by  the  noise, 
he  gazes  an  instant  around  at  the  crowd,  the  glare,  and  waving 
handkerchiefs,  ignorant  of  the  fate  which  inevitably  awaits  him. 
He  bears  on  his  neck  a  ribbon,  "  la  devisa,"  which  designates  his 
breeder.  The  picador  endeavors  to  snatch  this  off,  to  lay  the 
trophy  at  his  true  love's  heart.  The  bull  is  condemned  without 
reprieve  ;  however  gallant  his  conduct,  or  desperate  his  resistance, 
his  death  is  the  catastrophe  ;  the  whole  tragedy  tends  and  hastens 
to  this  event,  which,  although  it  is  darkly  shadowed  out  before- 
hand, as  in  a  Greek  play,  does  not  diminish  the  interest,  since  all 
the  intermediate  changes  and  chances  are  uncertain  ;  hence  the 
sustained  excitement,  for  the  action  may  pass  in  an  instant  from 
the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous,  from  tragedy  to  farce. 

The  bull  no  sooner  recovers  his  senses,  than  his  splendid 
Achillean  rage  fires  every  limb,  and  with  closing  eyes  and  lowered 
horns  he  rushes  at  the  first  of  the  three  picadores,  who  are  drawn 
up  to  the  left,  close  to  the  tablas,  or  wooden  barrier  which  walls 
round  the  ring.  The  horseman  sits  on  Itis  trembling  Rosinante, 
with  his  pointed  lance,  under  his  right  arm,  as  stiff  and  valiant  as 


BULL  BASTINADO.  307 


Don  Quixote.  If  the  animal  be  only  of  second-rate  power  and 
courage,  the  sharp  point  arrests  the  charge,  for  he  well  remembers 
this  garrocha,  or  goad,  by  which  herdsmen  enforce  discipline  and 
inculcate  instruction ;  during  this  momentary  pause  a  quick 
picador  turns  his  horse  to  the  left  and  gets  free.  The  bulls,  al- 
though irrational  brutes,  are  not  slow  on  their  part  in  discovering 
when  their  antagonists  are  bold  and  dexterous,  and  particularly 
dislike  fighting  against  the  pricks.  If  they  fly  and  will  not  face 
the  picador,  they  are  hooted  at  as  despicable  malefactors,  who 
wish  to  defraud  the  public  of  their  day's  sport  \  they  are  execrated 
as  "  goats,"  "  cows,75  which  is  no  compliment  to  bulls  ;  these  cul- 
prits, moreover,  are  soundly  beaten  as  they  pass  near  the  barrier 
by  forests  of  sticks,  with  which  the  mob  is  provided  for  the  nonce  ; 
that  of  the  elegant  majo  when  going  to  the  bull-fight,  is  very 
peculiar,  and  is  called  la  chivata ;  it  is  between  four  and  five 
feet  long,  is  taper,  and  terminates  in  a  lump  or  knob,  while  the 
top  is  forked,  into  which  the  thumb  is  inserted  ;  it  is  also  peeled  or 
painted  in  alternate  rings,  black  and  white,  or  red  and  yellow. 
The  lower  classes  content  themselves  with  a  common  shillelah  ; 
one  with  a  knob  at  the  end  is  preferred,  as  administering  a  more 
impressive  whack  ;  their  instrument  is  called  porro,  because  heavy 
and  lumbering. 

Nor  is  this  bastinado  uncalled  for,  since  courage,  address,  and 
energy,  are  the  qualities  which  ennoble  tauromachia ;  and  when 
the}'  are  wanting,  the  butchery,  with  its  many  disgusting  inci- 
dents, becomes  revolting  to  the  stranger,  but  to  him  alone ;  for 
the  gentler  emotions  of  pity  and  mercy,  which  rarely  soften  any 
transactions  of  hard  Iberia,  are  here  banished  altogether  from 
the  hearts  of  the  natives  ;  they  now  only  have  eyes  for  exhibi- 
tions of  skill  and  valor,  and  scarcely  observe  those  cruel  inci- 
dents which  engross  and  horrify  the  foreigner,  who  again  on  Hs 
part  is  equally  blind  to  those  redeeming  excellencies,  on  which 
alone  the  attention  of  the  rest  of  the  spectators  is  fixed  •  the 
tables  are  now  turned  against  the  stranger,  whose  aesthetic  mind's 
eye  can  see  the  poetry  and  beauty  of  the  picturesque  rags  and 
tumbledown  hamlets  of  Spaniards,  and  yet  is  blind  to  the  poverty, 
misery,  and  want  of  civilization,  to  which  alone  the  vision  of  the 


308  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

higher  classed  native  is  directed,  on  whose  exalted  soul  the  coming 
comforts  of  cotton  are  gleaming. 

When  the  bull  is  turned  by  the  spear  of  the  first  picador,  he 
passes  on  to  the  two  other  horsemen,  who  receive  him  with 
similar  cordiality.  If  the  animal  be  baffled  by  their  skill  and 
valor,  stunning  are  the  shouts  of  applause  which  celebrate  the 
victory  of  the  men  :  should  he  on  the  contrary  charge  home  and 
overwhelm  horses  and  riders,  then — for  the  balances  of  praise  and 
blame  are  held  with  perfect  fairness — the  fierce  lord  of  the  arena 
is  encouraged  with  roars  of  compliments,  Bravo  toro.  Viva  toro, 
Well  done,  bull !  even  a  long  life  is  wished  to  him  by  thousands 
who  know  that  he  must  be  dead  in  twenty  minutes. 

A  bold  beast  is  not  to  be  deterred  by  a  trifling  inch-deep 
wound,  but  presses  on,  goring  the  horse  in  the  flank,  and  then 
gaining  confidence  and  courage  by  victory,  and  "  baptized  in 
blood,"  a  la  Franpaise,  advances  in  a  career  of  honor,  gore,  and 
glory.  The  picador  is  seldom  well  mounted,  for  the  horses  are 
provided,  at  the  lowest  possible  price,  by  a  contractor,  who  runs 
the  risk  whether  many  or  few  are  killed ;  they  indeed  are  the 
only  things  economized  in  this  costly  spectacle,  and  are  sorry, 
broken-down  hacks,  fit  only  for  the  dog-kennel  of  an  English 
squire,  or  carriage  of  a  foreign  Pair.  This  increases  the  danger 
to  his  rider ;  in  the  ancient  combats,  the  finest  and  most  spirited 
horses  were  used  ;  quick  as  lightning,  and  turning  to  the  touch, 
they  escaped  the  deadly  rush.  The  eyes  of  those  poor  horses 
which  see  and  will  not  face  death,  are  often  bound  over  with  a 
handkerchief,  like  criminals  about  to  be  executed  ;  thus  they 
await  blindfold  the  fatal  horn  thrust  which  is  to  end  their  life  of 
misery. 

The  picadors  are  subject  to  most  severe  falls  ;  the  bull  often 
tosses  horse  and  rider  in  one  ruin,  and  when  his  victim  falls  with 
a  crash  on  the  ground  exhausts  his  fury  upon  his  prostrate  foes- 
The  picador  manages  (if  he  can)  to  fall  off  on  the  opposite  side 
in  order  that  his  horse  may  form  a  barrier  and  rampart  between 
him  and  the  bull.  When  these  deadly  struggles  take  place,  when 
life  hangs  on  a  thread,  the  amphitheatre  is  peopled  with  heads; 
every  feeling  of  anxiety,  eagerness,  fear,  horror,  and  delight  is 
stamped  on  their  expressive  countenances  ;  if  happiness  is  to  be 


DEATH   OF   THE    HORSE.  309 

estimated  by  quality,  intensity,  and  concentration,  rather  than 
duration  (and  it  is),  these  are  moments  of  excitement  more  pre- 
cious to  them,  than  ages  of  placid,  insipid,  uniform  stagnation. 
Their  feelings  are  wrought  to  a  pitch,  when  the  horse,  maddened 
with  wounds  anti  terror,  plunging  in  the  death-struggle,  the 
crimson  seams  of  blood  streaking  his  foarn  and  sweat-whitened 
body,  flies  from  the  infuriated  bull  still  pursuing,  still  goring  ; 
then  are  displayed  the  nerve,  presence  of  mind,  and  horsemanship 
of  the  dexterous  and  undismayed  picador.  It  is  in  truth  a  piteous 
sight  to  see  the  poor  mangled  horses  treading  out  their  entrails, 
and  yet  gallantly  carrying  off  their  riders  unhurt.  But  as  in 
the  pagan  sacrifices,  the  quivering  intestines,  trembling  with  life, 
formed  the  most  propitious  omens — to  what  will  not  early  habit 
familiarize  ? — so  the  Spaniards  are  no  more  affected  with  the 
reality,  than  the  Italians  are  with  the  abstract  "  tanti  palpiti"  of 
Rossini. 

The  miserable  horse,  when  dead,  is  dragged  out,  leaving  a 
bloody  furrow  on  the  sand,  as  the  river-beds  of  the  arid  plains 
of  Barbary  are  marked  by  the  crimson  fringe  of  the  flowering 
oleanders.  A  universal  sympathy  is  shown  for  the  horseman  in 
these  awful  moments  ;  the  men  rise,  the  women  scream,  but  all 
this  soon  subsides  ;  the  picador,  if  wounded,  is  carried  out  and 
forgotten — "  los  muertos  y  idos  no  tienen  amigos" — a  new  combat- 
ant fills  up  his  gap,  the  battle  rages — wounds  and  deaths  are  the 
order  of  the  day — he  is  not  missed  ;  and  as  new  incidents  arise, 
no  pause  is  left  for  regret' or  reflection.  We  remember  seeing  at 
Granada  a  matador  cruelly  gored  by  a  bull  :  he  was  carried  away 
as  dead,  and  his  place  immediately  taken  by  his  son,  as  coolly  as  a 
viscount  succeeds  to  an  earl's  estate  and  title.  Carnerero,  the  mu- 
sician, died  while  fiddling  at  a  ball  at  Madrid,  in  1838;  neither 
the  band  nor  the  dancers  stopped  one  moment.  The  boldness  of 
f.ie  picadors  is  great.  Francisco  Sevilla,  when  thrown  from  his 
horse  and  lying  under  the  dying  animal,  seized  the  bull,  as  he 
rushed  at  him,  by  his  ears,  turned  round  to  the  people,  and 
laughed  ;  but,  in  fact,  the  long  horns  of  the  bull  make  it  difficult 
for  him  to  gore  a  man  on  the  ground  ;  he  generally  bruises  them 
with  his  nose ;  nor  does  he  remain  long  busied  with  his  victim, 
since  he  is  lured  to  fresh  attacks  by  the  glittering  cloaks  of  the 


310  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

Chulos  who  come  instantly  to  the  rescue.  At  the  same  time  we 
are  free  to  confess,  that  few  picadors,  although  men  of  bronze, 
can  be  said  to  have  a  sound  rib  in  their  body.  When  one  is  car- 
ried off  apparently  dead,  but  returns  immediately  mounted  on  a 
fresh  horse,  the  applauding  voice  of  the  people  otitbellows  a  thou- 
sand bulls.  If  the  wounded  man  should  chance  not  to  come  back, 
n'importe,  however  courted  outside  the  Plaza,  now  he  is  ranked, 
like  the  gladiator  was  by  the  Romans,  no  higher  than  a  beast, — 
or  about  the  same  as  a  slave  under  the  perfect  equality  and  man 
rights  of  the  model  republic. 

The  poor  horse  is  valued  at  even  less,  and  he,  of  all  the  actors, 
is  the  one  in  which  Englishmen,  true  lovers  and  breeders  of  the 
noble  animal,  take  the  liveliest  interest ;  nor  can  any  bull-fight- 
ing habit  ever  reconcile  them  to  his  sufferings  and  ill-treatment. 
The  hearts  of  the  picadors  are  as  devoid  of  feeling  as  their  iron- 
cased  legs  •  they  only  think  of  themselves,  and  have  a  nice  tact 
in  knowing  when  a  wound  is  fatal  or  not.  Accordingly,  if  the 
horn-thrust  has  touched  a  vital  part,  no  sooner  has  the  enemy 
passed  on  to  a  new  victim,  than  an  experienced  picador  quietly 
dismounts,  takes  off  the  saddle  and  bridle,  and  hobbles  off  like 
Richard,  calling  out  for  another  horse — a  horse  !  The  poor  ani- 
mal, when  stripped  of  these  accoutrements,  has  a  most  rippish 
look,  as  it  staggers  to  and  fro,  like  a  drunken  man,  until  again 
attacked  by  the  bull  and  prostrated  :  then  it  lies  dying  unnoticed 
in  the  sand,  or,  if  observed,  merely  rouses  the  jeers  of  the  mob ; 
as  its  tail  quivers  in  the  last  agony  of  death,  your  attention  is 
called  to  the  fun  ;  Mira,  mira,  que  cola  !  The  words  and  sight 
yet  haunt  us,  for  they  were  those  that  first  caught  our  inexperi- 
enced ears  and  eyes  at  the  first  rush  of  the  first  bull  of  our  first 
bullfight.  While  gazing  on  the  scene  in  a  total  abstraction  from 
the  world,  we  felt  our  coat-tails  tugged  at,  as  by  a  greedily-biting 
pike ;  we  had  caught,  or,  rather,  were  caught  by  a  venerable 
harridan,  whose  quick  perception  had  discovered  a  novice,  whom 
her  kindness  prompted  to  instruct,  for  e'en  in  the  ashes  live  the 
wonted  fires;  a  bright,  fierce  eye  gleamed  alive  in  a  dead  and 
shrivelled  face,  which  evil  passions  had  furrowed  like  the  lava- 
seared  sides  of  an  extinct  volcano,  and  dried  up,  like  a  cat  starved 
behind  a  wainscot,  into  a  thing  of  fur  and  bones,  in  which  gender 


A  COWARD   BULL.  311 


was  obliterated — let  her  pass.  If  the  wound  received  by  the 
horse  be  not  instantaneously  mortal,  the  blood-vomiting  hole  is 
plugged  up  with  tow,  and  the  fountain  of  life  stopped  for  a  few 
minutes.  If  the  flank  is  only  partially  ruptured,  the  protruding 
bowels  are  pushed  back — no  operation  in  hernia  is  half  so  well 
performed  by  Spanish  surgeons — and  the  rent  is  sown  up  with  a 
needle  and  pack-thread.  Thus  existence  is  prolonged  for  new 
tortures,  and  a  few  dollars  are  saved  to  the  contractor ;  but  nei- 
ther death  nor  lacerations  excite  the  least  pity,  nay,  the  bloodier 
and  more  fatal  the  spectacle,  the  more  brilliant  it  is  pronounced. 
It  is  of  no  use  to  remonstrate,  or  ask  why  the  wounded  sufferers 
are  not  mercifully  killed  at  once  ;  the  utilitarian  Spaniard  dislikes 
to  see  the  order  of  the  sport  interrupted  and  spoilt  by  what  he 
considers  foreign  squeamishness  and  nonsense,  "  Ah  que  !  no  vale 
na" — "Bah!  the  beast  is  worth  nothing;"  that  is,  provided  he 
condescends  to  reply  to  your  disparates  with  anything  beyond  a 
shrug  of  civil  contempt.  But  national  tastes  will  differ.  "  Sir," 
said  an  alderman  to  Dr.  Johnson,  "  in  attempting  to  listen  to  your 
long  sentences,  and  give  you  a  short  answer,  I  have  swallowed 
two  pieces  of  green  fat,  without  tasting  the  flavor.  I  beg  you  to 
let  me  enjoy  my  present  happiness  in  peace  and  quiet." 

The  bull  is  the  hero  of  the  scene ;  yet,  like  Satan  in  the  Para- 
dise Lost,  he  is  foredoomed.  Nothing  can  save  him  from  a 
certain  fate,  which  awaits  all,  whether  brave, or  cowardly.  The 
poor  creatures  sometimes  endeavor  in  vain  to  escape,  and  have 
favorite  retreats,  to  which  they  fly  ;  or  they  leap  over  the  barrier, 
among  the  spectators,  creating  a  vast  hubbub  and  fun,  upsetting 
water-carriers  and  fancy  men,  putting  sentinels  and  old  women 
to  flight,  and  affording  infinite  delight  to  all  who  are  safe  in  the 
boxes ;  for,  as  Bacon  remarks,  "It  is  pleasant  to  see  a  battle  from 
a  distant  hill."  Bulls  which  exhibit  this  cowardlike  activity  are 
insulted:  cries  oC"fuego"  and  "  perros,"  fire  and  dogs,  resound, 
and  he  is  condemned  to  be  baited.  As  the  Spanish  dogs  have  by 
no  means  the  pluck  of  the  English  assailants  of  bulls,  they  are 
longer  at  the  work,  and  many  are  made  minced-meat  of: — 

"  Up  to  the  stars  the  growling  mastiffs  fly, 
And  add  new  monsters  to  the  frighted  sky.'7 

When  at  length  the  poor  brute  is  pulled  down,  he  is  stabbed  in 


312  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  spine,  as  if  he  were  only  fit  for  the  shambles,  being  a  civilian 
ox,  not  a  soldierlike  bull.  All  these  processes  are  considered  as 
deadly  insults ;  and  when  more  than  one  bull  exhibits  these  cra- 
ven propensities  to  baulk  nobler  expectancies,  then  is  raised  the 
cry  of  "  Cabestros  al  circo  /"  tame  oxen  to  the  circus.  This  is  a 
mortal  affront  to  the  empresa,  or  management,  as  it  infers  that  it 
has  furnished  animals  fitter  for  the  plough  than  for  the  arena. 
The  indignation  of  the  mob  is  terrible ;  for  if  disappointed  in  the 
blood  of  bulls,  it  will  lap  that  of  men. 

The  bull  is  sometimes  teased  with  stuffed  figures,  men  of  straw 
with  leaded  feet,  which  rise  up  again  as  soon  as  he  knocks  them 
down.  An  old  author  relates  that  in  the  time  of  Philip  IV.  "  a 
despicable  peasant  was  occasionally  set  upon  a  lean  horse,  and 
exposed  to  death."  At  other  times,  to  amuse  the  populace,  a 
monkey  is  tied  to  a  pole  in  the  arena.  This  art  of  ingeniously 
tormenting  is  considered  as  unjustifiable  homicide  by  certain 
lively  philosimious  foreigners  ;  and,  indeed,  all  these  episodes 
are  despised  as  irregular  hors  d'ceuvres,  by  the  real  and  business- 
like amateur. 

After  a  due  time  the  first  act  terminates:  its  length  is  uncer- 
tain. Sometimes  it  is  most  brilliant,  since  one  bull  has  been 
known  to  kill  a  dozen  horses,  and  clear  the  plaza.  Then  he  is 
adored ;  and  as  he  roams,  snorting  about,  lord  of  all  he  surveys, 
he  becomes  the  sole  object  of  worship  to  ten  thousand  devotees ; 
at  the  signal  of  the  president,  and  sound  of  a  trumpet,  the  second 
act  commences  with  the  performances  of  the  chulo,  a  word  which 
signifies,  in  the  Arabic,  a  lad,  a  merryman,  as  at  our  fairs.  The 
duty  of  this  light  division,  these  skirmishers,  is  to  draw  off  the 
bull  from  the  picador  when  endangered,  which  they  do  with  their 
colored  cloaks  ;  iheir  address  and  agility  are  surprising,  they 
skim  over  the  sand  like  glittering  humming-birds,  scarcely  touch- 
ing the  earth.  They  are  dressed  in  short  breeches,  and  without 
gaiters,  just  as  Figaro  is  in  the  opera  of  the  «  Barliere  de  Sevig- 
lia.'  Their  hair  is  tied  into  a  knot  behind,  and  enclosed  in  the 
once  universal  silk  net,  the  retecilla — the  identical  reticulum — 
of  which  so  many  instances  are  seen  on  ancient  Etruscan  vases. 
No  bull-fighters  ever  arrive  at  the  top  of  their  profession  without 
first  excelling  in  this  apprenticeship ;  then  they  are  taught  how 


THE  MATADOR   AND   THIRD  ACT.  313 

to  entice  the  bull  to  them,  and  learn  his  mode  of  attack,  and  how 
to  parry  it.  The  most  dangerous  moment  is  when  these  chulos 
venture  out  into  the  middle  of  the  plaza,  and  are  followed  by  the 
bull  to  the  barrier.  There  is  a  small  ledge  on  which  they  place 
their  foot,  and  vault  over,  and  a  narrow  slit  in  the  boarding, 
through  which  they  slip.  Their  escapes  are  marvellous,  and  they 
win  by  a  neck  ;  they  seem  really  sometimes,  so  close  is  the  run, 
to  be  helped  over  the  fence  by  the  bull's  horns.  The  chulos,  in 
the  second  act,  are  the  sole  performers  ;  their  j..art  is  to  place 
small  barbed  darts,  on  each  side  of  the  neck  of  the  bull,  which 
are  called  banderillas,  and  are  ornamented  with  cut  paper  of  dif- 
ferent colors — gay  decorations  under  which  cruelty  is  concealed. 
The  banderilleros  go  right  up  to  him,  holding  the  arrows  at  the  shaft, 
and  pointing  the  barbs  at  the  bull ;  just  when  the  animal  stoops 
to  toss  his  foes,  they  jerk  them  into  his  neck  and  slip  aside.  The 
service  appears  to  be  more  dangerous  than  it  is,  but  it  requires  a 
quick  eye,  a  light  hand  and  foot.  The  barbs  should  be  placed  to 
correspond  with  each  other  exactly  on  both  sides.  Such  pretty 
pairs  are  termed  buenos  pares  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the  feat  is 
called  coiffer  le  taureau  by  the  French,  who  undoubtedly  are 
first-rate  perruquiers.  Very  often  these  arrows  are  provided  with 
crackers,  which,  by  means  of  a  detonating  powder,  explode  the 
moment  they  are  affixed  in  the  neck  ;  thence  they  are  called 
banderillas  de  fuego.  The  agony  of  the  scorched  and  tortured 
animal  makes  him  plunge  and  bound  like  a  sportive  lamb,  to  the 
intense  joy  of  the  populace,  while  the  fire,  the  smell  of  singed 
hair  and  roasted  flesh,  which  our  gastronome  neighbors  would 
call  a  bifstec  a  I'Espagnole,  faintly  recall  to  many  a  dark  scowl- 
ing priest  the  superior  attractions  of  his  former  amphitheatre,  the 
auto  defe. 

The  last  trumpet  now  sounds,  the  arena  is  cleared,  and  the 
matador,  the  executioner,  the  man  of  death,  stands  before  his 
victim  alone  ;  on  entering,  he  addresses  the  president,  and  throws 
his  cap  to  the  ground.  In  his  right  hand  he  holds  a  long  straight 
Toledan  blade  ;  in  his  left  he  waves  the  muleta,  the  red  flag,  or 
the  engano,  the  lure,  which  ought  not  (so  Romero  laid  down  in 
our  hearing)  to  be  so  large  as  the  standard  of  a  religious  brother- 
hood, nor  so  small  as  a  lady's  pocket-handkerchief,  but  about 

PART  II.  15 


314  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

a  yard  square.  The  color  is  always  red,  because  that  best  irri- 
tates the  bull  and  conceals  blood.  There  is  always  a  spare 
slayer  at  hand  in  case  of  accidents,  which  may  happen  in  the 
best  regulated  bull-fights. 

The  matador,  from  being  alone,  concentrates  in  himself  all  the 
interest  as  regards  the  human  species,  which  was  before  frittered 
away  among  the  many  other  combatants,  as  was  the  case  in  the 
ancient  gladiatorial  shows  of  Rome.  He  advances  to  the  bull, 
in  order  to  entice  him  towards  him,  or,  in  nice  technical  idiom, 
citarlo  a  la  jurisdiccion  del  engano,  to  cite  him  into  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  trick ;  in  plain  English,  to  subpoena  him,  or,  as  our 
ring  would  say,  get  his  head  into  chancery.  And  this  trial  is 
nearly  as  awful,  as  the  matador  stands  confronted  with  his  foe,  in 
the  presence  of  inexorable  witnesses,  the  bar  and  judges,  who 
would  rather  see  the  bull  kill  him  twice  over,  than  that  he  should 
kill  the  bull  contrary  to  the  rules  and  practice  of  the  court  and 
tauromachian  precedent.  In  these  brief  but  trying  moments  the 
matador  generally  looks  pale  and  anxious,  as  well  he  may,  for 
life  hangs  on  the  edge  of  a  razor,  but  he  presents  a  fine  picture 
of  fixed  purpose  and  concentration  of  moral  energy.  And  Se- 
neca said  truly  that  the  world  had  seen  as  many  examples  of 
courage  in  gladiators,  as  in  the  Catos  and  Scipios. 

The  matador  endeavors  rapidly  to  discover  the  character  of  the 
animal,  and  examines  with  eye  keener  than  Spurzheim,  his  bumps 
of  combativeness,  destructiveness,  and  other  amiable  organs;  nor 
has  he  many  moments  to  lose,  where  mistake  is  fatal,  as  one  must 
die,  and  both  may.  Here,  as  FalstafF  says,  there  is  no  scoring, 
except  on  the  pate.  Often  even  the  brute  bull  seems  to  feel  that 
the  last  moment  is  come,  and  pauses,  when  face  to  face  in  the 
deadly  duel  with  his  single  opponent.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
contrast  is  very  striking.  The  slayer  is  arrayed  in  a  ball  cos- 
tume, with  no  buckler  but  skill,  and  as  if  it  were  a  pastime  ;  he 
is  all  coolness,  the  beast  all  rage  ;  and  time  it  is  to  be  collected, 
for  now  indeed  knowledge  is  power,  and  could  the  beast  reason, 
the  man  would  have  small  chance.  Meanwhile  the  spectators 
are  wound  up  to  a  greater  pitch  of  madness  than  the  poor  bull, 
who  has  undergone  a  long  torture,  besides  continued  excitement: 
he  at  this  instant  becomes  a  study  for  a  Paul  Potter ;  his  eyes 


CHARACTERS   OF   BULLS,  315 

flash  fire — his  inflated  nostrils  snort  fury  ;  his  body  is  covered 
with  sweat  and  foam,  or  crimsoned  with  a  glaze  of  gore  streaming 
from  gaping  wounds.  "Mira  !  que  bel  cuerpo  de  sangre  ! — look  ! 
what  a  beauteous  body  of  blood  !"  exclaimed  the  worthy  old 
lady,  who,  as  we  before  mentioned,  was  kind  enough  to  point  out 
to  our  inexperience  the  tit-bits  of  the  treat,  the  pearls  of  greatest 
price. 

There  are  several  sorts  of  toros,  whose  characters  vary  no  less 
than  those  of  men  :  some  are  brave  and  dashing,  others  are  slow 
and  heavy,  others  sly  and  cowardly.  The  matador  foils  and 
plays  with  the  bull  until  he  has  discovered  his  disposition.  The 
fundamental  principle  consists  in  the  animal's  mode  of  attack,  the 
stooping  his  head  and  shutting  his  eyes,  before  he  butts  ;  the  se- 
cret of  mastering  him  lies  in  distinguishing  whether  he  acts  on 
the  offensive  or  defensive.  Those  which  are  fearless,  and  rush 
boldly  on  at  once,  closing  their  eyes,  are  the  most  easy  to  kill  ; 
those  which  are  cunning — which  seldom  go  straight  when  they 
charge,  but  stop,  dodge,  and  run  at  the  man,  not  the  flag,  are  the 
most  dangerous.  The  interest  of  the  spectators  increases  in  pro- 
portion as  the  peril  is  great. 

Although  fatal  accidents  do  not  often  occur  (and  we  ourselves 
have  never  seen  a  man  killed,  yet  we  have  beheld  some  hundred 
bulls  despatched),  such  events  are  always  possible.  At  Tudela, 
a  bull  having  killed  seventeen  horses,  a  picador  named  Blanco, 
and  a  banderillero,  then  leapt  over  the  barriers,  where  he  gored 
to  death  a  peasant,  and  wounded  many  others.  The  newspapers 
simply  headed  the  statement,  "Accidents  have  happened."  Pepe 
Illo,  who  had  received  thirty  eight  wounds  in  the  wars,  died,  like 
Nelson,  the  hero's  death.  He  was  killed  on  the  llth  of  May, 
1801.  He  had  a  presentiment  of  his  death,  but  said  that  he  must 
do  his  duty. 

Every  matador  must  be  quick  and  decided.  He  must  not  let 
the  bull  run  at  the  flag  above  two  or  three  times  ;  the  moral  ten- 
sion of  the  multitudes  is  too  strained  to  endure  a  longer  suspense  ; 
they  vent  their  impatience  in  jeers,  noises,  and  endeavor  by  every 
possible  manner  to  irritate  him,  and  make  him  lose  his  temper, 
and  perhaps  life.  Under  such  circumstances,  Manuel  Romero, 
who  had  murdered  a  man,  was  always  saluted  with  cries  of  "A  la 


516  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

Plaza  de  Celada — to  Tyburn."  The  populace  absolutely  loathe 
those  who  show  the  smallest  white  feather,  or  do  not  brave 
death  cheerfully. 

There  are  many  ways  of  killing  the  bull  :  the  principal  is 
when  the  matador  receives  him  on  his  sword  when  charging ; 
then  the  weapon,  which  is  held  still  and  never  thrust  forward, 
enters  just  between  the  left  shoulder  and  the  blade-bone  ;  a  firm 
hand,  eye,  and  nerve,  are  essential,  since  \:\  nothing  is  the  real 
fancy  so  fastidious  as  in  the  exact  nicety  of  Ihe  placing  this 
death- wound.  The  bull  very  often  is  not  killed  at  the  first  effort ; 
if  not  true,  the  sword  strikes  a  bone,  and  then  it  is  ejected  high 
in  air  by  the  rising  neck.  When  the  blow  is  true,  death  is  in- 
stantaneous, and  the  bull,  vomiting  forth  blood,  drops  at  the  feet 
of  his  conqueror.  It  is  indeed  the  triumph  of  knowledge  over 
brute  force  ;  all  that  was  fire,  fury,  passion,  and  life,  falls  in  an 
instant,  still  forever.  The  gay  team  of  mules  now  enter,  glit- 
tering with  flags,  and  tinkling  with  bells  ;  the  dead  bull  is  car- 
ried off*  at  a  rapid  gallop,  which  always  delights  the  populace. 
The  matador  then  wipes  the  hot  blood  from  his  sword,  and  bows  to 
the  spectators  with  admirable  sang  froid,  who  fling  their  hats  into 
the  arena,  a  compliment  which  he  returns  by  throwing  them 
back  again  (they  are  generally  "  shocking  bad "  ones)  ;  when 
Spain  was  rich,  a  golden,  or  at  least  a  silver  shower  was  rained 
down — ces  beaux  jours  Id  sont  passes ;  thanks  to  her  kind 
neighbor.  The  poverty-stricken  Spaniard,  however,  gives  all  he 
can,  and  lets  the  bullfighter  dream  the  rest.  As  hats  in  Spain 
represent  grandeeship,  so  these  beavers,  part  and  parcel  of  them- 
selves, are  given  as  symbols  of  their  generous  hearts  and  souls  ; 
and  none  but  a  huckster  would  go  into  minute  details  of  value  or 
condition. 

When  a  bull  will  not  run  at  the  fatal  flag,  or  prays  for  pardon, 
he  is  doomed  to  a  dishonorable  death,  as  no  true  Spaniard  begs 
for  his  own  life,  or  spares  that  of  his  foe,  when  in  his  power ;  now 
the  media  Luna  is  yelled  for,  and  the  call  implies  insult ;  the  use 
is  equivalent  to  shooting  traitors  in  the  back  :  this  half  moon  is 
the  precise  Oriental  ancient  and  cruel  instrument  of  houghing 
cattle  ;  moreover  it  is  the  exact  old  Iberian  bident,  or  a  sharp  steel 
orescent  placed  on  a  long  pole.  The  cowardly  blow  is  given  from 


CONCLUSION   OF   BULL-FIGHT.  317 

behind  ;  and  when  the  poor  beast  is  crippled  by  dividing  the  sinew 
of  his  leg,  and  crawls  along  in  agony,  an  assistant  pierces  with  a 
pointed  dagger  the  spinal  marrow,  which  is  the  usual  method  of 
slaughtering  cattle  in  Spain  by  the  butcher.  To  perform  all  these 
vile  operations  is  considered  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  matador  ; 
some,  however,  will  kill  the  bull  by  plunging  the  point  of  their 
sword  in  the  vertebrae,  as  the  danger  gives  dignity  to  the  diffi- 
cult feat. 

Such  is  a  single  bull-fight ;  each  of  which  is  repeated  eight 
times  with  succeeding  bulls,  the  excitement  of  the  multitude 
rising  with  each  indulgence  ;  after  a  short  collapse  new  desires 
are  roused  by  fresh  objects,  the  fierce  sport  is  renewed,  which 
night  alone  can  extinguish  ;  nay,  often  when  royalty  is  present,  a 
ninth  bull  is  clamored  for,  which  is  always  graciously  granted  by 
the  nominal  monarch's  welcome  sign,  the  pulling  his  royal  ear ; 
in  truth  here  the  mob  is  autocrat,  and  his  majesty  the  many  will 
take  no  denial ;  the  bull-fight  terminates  when  the  day  dies  like 
a  dolphin,  and  the  curtain  of  heaven  hung  over  the  bloody  show, 
is  incarnadined  and  crimsoned  ;  this  glorious  finish  is  seen  in  full 
perfection  at  Seville,  where  the  plaza  from  being  unfinished  is 
open  toward  the  cathedral,  which  furnishes  a  Moorish  distance  to 
the  picturesque  foreground.  On  particular  occasions  this  side  is 
decorated  with  flags.  When  the  blazing  sun  setting  on  the  red 
Giralda  tower,  lights  up  its  fair  proportions  like  a  pillar  of  fire, 
the  refreshing  evening  breeze  springs  up,  and  the  flagging  ban- 
ners wave  in  triumph  over  the  concluding  spectacle  ;  then  when 
all  is  come  to  an  end,  as  all  things  human  must,  the  congregation 
depart,  with  rather  less  decorum  than  if  quitting  a  church  ;  all 
hasten  to  sacrifice  the  rest  of  the  night  to  Bacchus  and  Venus, 
with  a  passing  homage  to  the  knife,  should  critics  differ  too  hotly 
on  the  merits  of  some  particular  thrust  of  the  bull-fight. 

To  conclude  ;  the  minds  of  men,  like  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1802,  are  divided  on  the  merits  of  the  bull-fight ;  the  Wilber- 
forces  assert  (especially  foreigners,  who,  notwithstanding,  seldom 
fail  to  sanction  the  arena  by  their  presence)  that  all  the  best  feel- 
ings are  blunted — that  idleness,  extravagance,  cruelty,  and  fero- 
city are  promoted  at  a  vast  expense  of  human  and  animal  life  by 
these  pastimes;  the  Windhams  contend  that  loyalty,  courage, 


318  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

presence  of  mind,  endurance  of  pain,  and  contempt  of  death,  are 
inculcated — that,  while  the  theatre  is  all  illusion,  the  opera  all 
effeminacy,  these  manly,  national  games  are  all  truth,  and  in  the 
words  of  a  native  eulogist  "  elevate  the  soul  to  those  grandiose 
actions  of  valor  and  heroism  which  have  long  proved  the  Span- 
iards to  be  the  best  and  bravest  of  all  nations." 

The  efficacy  of  such  sports  for  sustaining  a  martial  spirit  was 
disproved  by  the  degeneracy  of  the  Romans  at  the  time  when 
bloody  spectacles  were  most  in  vogue ;  nor  are  bravery  and  hu- 
manity the  characteristics  of  the  bull-fighting  Spaniards  in  the 
collective.  We  ourselves  do  not  attribute  their  "  merciless  skiv- 
ering and  skewering,"  their  flogging  and  murdering  women,  to 
the  bull-fight,  the  practical  result  of  which  has  been  overrated 
and  misunderstood.  Cruel  it  undoubtedly  is,  and  perfectly  con- 
genial to  the  inherent,  inveterate  ferocity  of  Iberian  character, 
but  it  is  an  effect  rather  than  a  cause — with  doubtless  some  recip- 
rocating action  ;  and  it  may  be  questioned,  whether  the  original 
bull-fight  had  not  a  greater  tendency  to  humanize,  than  the  Olym- 
pic games  ;  certainly  the  Fiesta  real  of  the  feudal  ages  combined 
the  associated  ideas  of  religion  and  loyalty,  while  the  chivalrous 
combat  nurtured  a  nice  sense  of  personal  honor  and  a  respectful 
gallantry  to  women,  which  were  unknown  to  the  polished  Greeks 
or  warlike  Romans ;  and  many  of  the  finest  features  of  Spanish 
character  have  degenerated  since  the  discontinuance  of  the  ori- 
ginal fight,  which  was  more  bloody  and  fatal  than  the  present 
one. 

The  Spaniards  invariably  bring  forward  our  boxing-matches 
in  self-justification,  as  if  a  tu  quoque  could  be  so ;  but  it  must 
always  be  remembered  in  our  excuse  that  these  are  discounte- 
nanced by  the  good  and  respectable,  and  legally  stigmatized  as 
breaches  of  the  peace ;  although  disgraced  by  beastly  drunken- 
ness, brutal  vulgarity,  ruinous  gambling  and  betting,  from  which 
the  Spanish  arena  is  exempt,  as  no  bull  yet  has  been  backed  to 
kill  so  many  horses  or  not ;  our  matches,  however,  are  based  on  a 
spirit  of  fair  play  which  forms  no  principle  of  the  Punic  politics, 
warfare,  or  bull-fighting  of  Spain.  The  Plaza  there  is  patronized 
by  church  and  state,  to  whom,  in  justice,  the  responsibility  of  evil 
consequences  must  be  referred.  The  show  is  conducted  with  great 


PHILOSOPHY   OF   THE   BULL-FIGHT.  319 

ceremonial,  combining  many  elements  of  poetry,  the  beautiful 
and  sublime ;  insomuch  that  a  Spanish  author  proudly  says : 
"  When  the  countless  assembly  is  honored  by  the  presence  of 
our  august  monarchs,  the  world  is  lost  in  admiration  at  the  majes- 
tic spectacle  afforded  by  the  happiest  people  in  the  world,  enjoy- 
ing with  rapture  an  exhibition  peculiarly  their  own,  and  offering 
to  their  idolized  sovereigns  the  due  homage  of  the  truest  and 
most  refined  loyalty  ;"  and  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the  magnificent 
coup  d'ceil  of  the  assembled  thousands.  Under  such  conlicting 
circumstances,  we  turn  away  our  eyes  during  moments  of  pain- 
ful detail  which  are  lost  in  the  poetical  ferocity  of  the  whole,  for 
the  interest  of  the  tragedy  of  real  death  is  undeniable,  irresistible 
and  all  absorbing. 

The  Spaniards  seem  almost  unconscious  of  the  cruelty  of  those 
details  which  are  most  offensive  to  a  stranger.  They  are  recon- 
ciled by  habit,  as  we  are  to  the  bleeding  butchers'  shops  which 
disfigure  our  gay  streets,  and  which  if  seen  for  the  first  time  would 
be  inexpressibly  disgusting.  The  feeling  of  the  chase,  that  rem- 
nant of  the  savage,  rules  in  the  arena,  and  mankind  has  never 
been  nice  or  tender-hearted  in  regard  to  the  sufferings  of  animals 
when  influenced  by  the  destructive  propensities.  In  England  no 
sympathy  is  shown  for  game, — fish,  flesh,  or  fowl ;  nor  for  vermin 
— stoats,  kites,  or  poachers.  The  end  of  the  sport  is — death  ;  the 
amusement  is  the  playing,  the  Jine  run,  as  the  prolongation  of 
animal  suffering  is  termed  in  the  tender  vocabulary  of  the  Nim- 
rods  ;  the  pang  of  mortal  sufferance  is  not  regulated  by  the  size 
of  the  victim  ;  the  bull  moreover  is  always  put  at  once  out  of  his 
misery,  and  never  exposed  to  the  thousand  lingering  deaths  of  the 
poor  wounded  hare  ;  therefore  we  must  not  see  a  toro  in  Spanish 
eyes  and  wink  at  the  fox  in  our  own,  nor 

"  Compound  for  vices  we're  inclined  to 
By  damning  those  we  have  no  mind  to." 

It  is  not  clear  that  animal  suffering  on  the  whole  predominates 
over  animal  happiness.  The  bull  roams  in  ample  pastures, 
through  a  youth  and  manhood  free  from  toil,  and  when  killed  in 
the  plaza  only  anticipates  by  a  few  months  the  certain  fate  of  the 
imprisoned,  over-labored,  mutilated  ox. 


320  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

In  Spain,  where  capital  is  scanty,  person  and  property  inse- 
cure (evils  not  quite  corrected  since  the  late  democratic  reforms), 
no  one  would  adventure  on  the  speculation  of  breeding  cattle  on  a 
large  scale,  where  the  return  is  so  distant,  without  the  certain 
demand  and  sale  created  by  the  amphitheatre  ;  and  as  a  small 
proportion  only  of  the  produce  possess  the  requisite  qualifications, 
the  surplus  and  females  go  to  the  plough  and  market,  and  can  be 
sold  cheaper  from  the  profit  made  on  the  bulls.  Spanish  political 
economists  proved  that  many  valuable  animals  were  wasted  in  the 
arena — but  their  theories  vanished  before  the  fact,  that  the  supply 
of  cattle  was  rapidly  diminished  when  bull-fights  were  suppressed. 
Similar  results  take  place  as  regards  the  breed  of  horses,  though 
in  a  minor  degree  ;  those,  moreover,  which  are  sold  to  the  Plaza 
would  never  be  bought  by  any  one  else.  With  respect  to  the  loss 
of  human  life,  in  no  land  is  a  man  worth  so  little  as  in  Spain  ;  and 
more  English  aldermen  are  killed  indirectly  by  turtles,  than  Anda- 
lucian  picadors  directly  by  bulls  :  while,  as  to  time,  these  exhibi- 
tions always  take  place  on  holidays,  which  even  industrious 
Britons  bouse  away  occasionally  in  pothouses,  and  idle  Spaniards 
invariably  smoke  out  in  sunshiny  dolcefar  niente.  The  attend- 
ance, again,  of  idle  spectators  prevents  idleness  in  the  numerous 
classes  employed  directly  and  indirectly  in  getting  up  and  carry- 
ing out  this  expensive  spectacle. 

It  is  poor  and  illogical  philosophy  to  judge  of  foreign  customs 
by  our  own  habits,  prejudices,  and  conventional  opinions  ;  a  cold, 
unprepared,  calculating  stranger  comes  without  the  freemasonry 
of  early  associations,  and  criticises  minutiae  which  are  lost  on  the 
natives  in  their  enthusiasm  and  feeling  for  the  whole.  He  is 
horrified  by  details  to  which  the  Spaniards  have  become  as  accus- 
tomed as  hospital  nurses,  whose  finer  sympathetic  emotions  of 
pity  are  deadened  by  repetition. 

A  most  difficult  thing  it  is  to  change  long-established  usages  and 
customs  with  which  we  are  familiar  from  our  early  days,  and  which 
have  come  down  to  us  connected  with  many  fond  remembrances. 
We  are  slow  to  suspect  any  evil  or  harm  in  such  practices ;  we 
dislike  to  look  the  evidence  of  facts  in  the  face,  and  shrink  from 
a  conclusion  which  would  require  the  abandonment  of  a  recrea- 
tion, which  we  have  long  regarded  as  innocent,  and  in  which  we, 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  BULL-FIGHT.  321 


as  well  as  our  parents  before  us,  have  not  scrupled  to  indulge. 
Children,  Tage  sans  pitie,  do  not  speculate  on  cruelty,  whether 
in  bull-baiting  or  bird's-nesting,  and  Spaniards  are  brought  up  to 
the  bull-fight  from  their  infancy,  when  they  are  too  simple  to 
speculate  on  abstract  questions,  but  associate  with  the  Plaza  all 
their  ideas  of  reward  for  good  conduct,  of  finery  and  holiday  ;  in  a 
land  where  amusements  are  few — they  catch  the  contagion  of 
pleasure,  and  in  their  young  bias  of  imitation  approve  of  what 
is  approved  of  by  their  parents.  They  return  to  their  homes 
unchanged — playful,  timid,  or  serious,  as  before  :  their  kindly, 
social  feelings  are  uninjured  :  and  where  is  the  filial  or  parental 
bond  more  affectionately  cherished  than  in  Spain — where  are  the 
noble  courtesies  of  life,  the  kind,  considerate,  self-respecting  de- 
meanor so  exemplified  as  in  Spanish  society  ? 

The  successive  feelings  experienced  by  most  foreigners  are  ad- 
miration, compassion,  and  weariness  of  the  flesh.  The  first  will 
be  readily  understood,  as  it  will  that  the  horses'  sufferings  cannot 
be  beheld  by  novices  without  compassion :  "  In  troth  it  was  more 
a  pittie  than  a  delight,"  wrote  the  herald  of- Lord  Nottingham. 
This  feeling,  however,  regards  the  animals  who  are  forced  into 
wounds  and  death  ;  the  men  scarcely  excite  much  of  it,  since  they 
willingly  court  the  danger,  and  have  therefore  no  right  to  com- 
plain. These  heroes  of  low  life  are  applauded,  well  paid,  and 
their  risk  is  more  apparent  than  real  j  our  British  feelings  of  fair 
play  make  us  side  rather  with  the  poor  bull  who  is  overmatched  ; 
we  respect  the  gallantry  of  his  unequal  defence.  Such  must  al- 
ways be  the  effect  produced  on  those  not  bred  and  brought  up  to 
such  scenes.  So  Livy  relates  that,  when  the  gladiatorial  shows 
were  first  introduced  by  the  Romans  into  Asia,  the  natives  were 
more  frightened  than  pleased,  but  by  leading  them  on  from  sham- 
fights  to  real,  they  became  as  fond  of  them  as  the  Romans.  The 
predominant  sensation  experienced  by  ourselves  was  bore,  the 
same  thing  over  and  over  again,  and  too  much  of  it.  But  that  is 
the  case  with  everything  in  Spain,  where  processions  and  profes- 
sions are  interminable.  The  younger  Pliny,  who  was  no  ama- 
teur, complained  of  the  eternal  sameness  of  seeing  what  to  have 
seen  once,  was  enough  ;  just  as  Dr.  Johnson,  when  he  witnessed 
a  .horse-race,  observed  that  he  had  not  met  with  such  a  proof  of 

15* 


322  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

the  paucity  of  human  pleasures  as  in  the  popularity  of  such  a 
spectacle.  But  the  life  of  Spaniards  is  uniform,  and  their  sensa- 
tions, not  being  blunted  by  satiety,  are  intense.  Their  bull-fight 
to  them  is  always  new  and  exciting,  since  the  more  the  toresque 
intellect  is  cultivated  the  greater  the  capacity  for  enjoyment  ; 
they  see  a  thousand  minute  beauties  in  the  character  and  conduct 
of  the  combatants,  which  escape  the  superficial  unlearned  glance 
of  the  uninitiated. 

Spanish  ladies,  against  whom  every  puny  scribbler  shoots  his 
petty  barbed  arrow,  are  relieved  from  the  infliction  of  ennui,  by 
me  never-flagging,  ever-sustained  interest,  in  being  admired. 
They  have  no  abstract  nor  Pasiphaic  predilections ;  they  were 
taken  to  the  bull-fight  before  they  knew  their  alphabet,  or  what 
love  was.  Nor  have  we  heard  that  it  has  ever  rendered  them 
particularly  cruel,  save  and  except  some  of  the  elderly  and 
tougher  lower-classed  females.  The  younger  and  more  tender 
scream  and  are  dreadfully  affected  in  all  real  moments  of  danger, 
in  spite  of  their  long  familiarity.  Their  grand  object,  after  all,  is 
not  to  see  the  bull,  but  to  let  themselves  and  their  dresses  be  seen. 
The  better  classes  generally  interpose  their  fans  at  the  most  pain- 
ful incidents,  and  certainly  show  no  want  of  sensibility.  The 
lower  orders  of  females,  as  a  body,  behave  quite  as  respectably 
as  those  of  other  countries  do  at  executions,  or  other  dreadful 
scenes,  where  they  crowd  with  their  babies.  The  case  with 
English  ladies  is  far  different.  They  have  heard  the  bull-fight 
not  praised  from  their  childhood,  but  condemned  ;  they  see  it  for 
the  first  time  when  grown  up  ;  curiosity  is  perhaps  their  leading 
feature  in  sharing  an  amusement,  of  which  they  have  an  indis- 
tinct idea  that  pleasure  will  be  mixed  with  pain.  The  first  sight 
delights  them  ;  a  flushed,  excited  cheek,  betrays  a  feeling  that 
they  are  almost  ashamed  to  avow  ;  but  as  the  bloody  tragedy  pro- 
ceeds, they  get  frightened,  disgusted,  and  disappointed.  Few  are 
able  to  sit  out  more  than  one  course,  and  fewer  ever  re-enter  the 
amphitheatre — 

"  The  heart  that  is  soonest  awake  to  the  flower 
Is  always  the  first  to  be  touched  by  the  thorn." 

Probably  a  Spanish  woman,  if  she  coula   be  placed  in  precisely 


PHILOSOPHY  OF   THE  BULL-FIGHT.  323 


the  same  condition,  would  not  act  very  differently,  and  some- 
thing of  a  similar  test  would  be  to  bring  her,  for  the  first  time, 
to  an  English  boxing-match.  Be  this  as  it  may,  far  from  us 
and  from  our  friends  be  that  frigid  philosophy,  which  would 
infer  that  their  bright  eyes,  darting  the  shafts  of  Cupid,  will 
glance  one  smile  the  less  from  witnessing  these  more  merciful 
banderillas. 


324  THE   SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Spanish  Theatre;  Old  and  Modern  Drama;  Arrangement  of  Playhouses— 
The  Henroost — The  Fandango ;  National  Dances — A  Gipsy  Ball — Ital- 
ian Opera — National  Songs  and  Guitars. 

HAVING  seen  a  bull-fight,  the  sighi  of  Spain,  those  who  only 
wish  to  pass  time  agreeably  cannot  be  too  quick  in  getting  their 
passports  vised  for  Naples.  A  pleasant  country  life,  according  to 
our  notions,  in  Spain,  is  a  thing  that  is  not ;  and  the  substitute  is 
but  a  Bedouin  Oriental  makeshift  existence,  which,  amusing 
enough  for  a  spurt,  will  not  do 'in  the  long  run.  Nor  is  life  much 
better  in  the  towns  ;  those  in  the  inland  provinces  have  a  convent- 
like,  dead,  old-fashioned  look  about  them,  which  petrifies  a  lively 
person  ;  nay  even-  an  artist  when  he  has  finished  his  sketches, 
is  ready  to  commit  suicide  from  sheer  Bore,  the  genius  of  the 
locality.  Madrid  itself  is  but  an  unsocial,  second-rate,  inhospita- 
ble city  ;  and  when  the  traveller  has  seen  the  Museum,  been  to 
the  play,  and  walked  on  the  eternal  roundabout  Prado,  the  sooner 
he  shakes  the  dust  off  his  feet  the  better.  The  maritime  seaports, 
as  in  the  East,  from  being  frequented  by  the  foreigner,  are  a  trifle 
more  cosmopolitan,  cheerful,  and  amusing  ;  but  generally  speak- 
ing, public  amusements  are  rare  throughout  this  semi-Moro  land. 
The  calm  contemplation  of  a  cigar,  and  the  dolce  far  niente  of 
siestose  quiet  indolence  with  unexciting  twaddle,  suffice ;  while  to 
some  nations  it  is  a  pain  to  be  out  of  pleasure,  to  the  Spaniard  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  be  out  of  painful  exertion  :  existence  is  happiness 
enough  of  itself;  and  as  for  occupation,  all  desire  only  to  do 
to-day  what  they  did  yesterday  and  will  do  to-morrow,  that  is 
nothing.  Thus  life  slips  away  in  a  dreamy,  listless  routine,  the 
serious  business  of  love-making  excepted  ;  leave  me,  leave  me, 
to  repose  and  tobacco.  When  however  awake,  the  Alameda,  or 
church-show,  the  bull-fight,  and  the  rendezvous,  are  the  chief  re- 
laxations. These  will  be  best  enjoyed  in  the  Southern  provinces, 


THE  THEATRE.  325 

the  land  also  of  the  song  and  dance,  of  bright  suns  and  eyes,  and 
not  the  largest  female  feet  in  the  world. 

The  theatre,  which  forms  elsewhere  such  an  important  item  in 
passing  the  stranger's  evening,  is  at  a  low  ebb  in  Spain,  although, 
as  everybody  is  idle,  and  man  is  not  worn  out  by  business  and 
money-making  all  day,  it  might  be  supposed  to  be  just  the 
thing  ;  but  it  is  somewhat  too  expensive  for  the  general  poverty. 
Those  again  who  for  forty  years  have  had  real  tragedies  at  home, 
lack  that  superabundance  of  felicity,  which  will  pay  for  the 
luxury  of  fictitious  grief  abroad.  In  truth  the  drama  in  Spain 
was,  like  most  other  matters,  the  creature  of  an  accident  and  of  a 
period  ;  patronized  by  the  pleasure-loving  Philip  IV..  it  blos- 
somed in  the  sunshine  of  his  smile,  languished  when  that  was 
withdrawn,  and  was  unable  to  resist  the  steady  hostility  of  tho 
clergy,  who  opposed  this  rival  to  their  own  religious  spectacles 
and  church  melodramas,  from  which  the  opposition  stage  sprung. 
Nor  are  their  primitive  mediaeval  Mysteries  yet  obsolete,  since 
we  have  beheld  them  acted  in  Spain  at  Easter  time ;  then  and 
there  sacred  subjects,  grievously  profaned  to  Protestant  eyes, 
were  gazed  on  by  the  pleased  natives  with  too  sincere  and  simple 
faith  even  to  allow  a  suspicion  of  the  gross  absurdity  ;  but  every, 
where  in  Spain,  the  spiritual  has  been  materialized,  and  the 
divine  degraded  to  the  human  in  churches  and  out ;  the  clergy 
attacked  the  stage,  by  denying  burial  to  the  actors  when  dead, 
who,  when  alive,  were  not  allowed  to  call  themselves  "  Don" 
the  cherished  title  of  every  Spaniard.  Naturally,  as  no  one  of 
this  self-respecting  nation  ever  will  pursue  a  despised  profession 
if  he  can  help  it,  few  have  chosen  to  make  themselves  vagabonds 
by  Act  of  Parliament,  nor  has  any  Garrick  or  Siddons  ever 
arisen  among  them  to  beat  down  prejudices  by  public  and  private 
virtues. 

Even  in  this  19th  century,  confessors  of  families  forbade  the 
women  and  children's  even  passing  through  the  street  where  "  a 
temple  of  Satan"  was  reared ;  mendicant  monks  placed  them- 
selves near  the  playhouse  doors  at  night,  to  warn  the  headlong 
against  the  bottomless  pit,  just  as  our  methodists  on  the  day  of  the 
Derby  distribute  tracts  at  turnpikes  against  "  sweeps"  and  racing. 
The  monks  at  Cordova  succeeded  in  1823  in  shutting  up  the 


326  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

theatre,  because  the  nuns  of  an  opposite  convent  observed  the 
devil  and  his  partners  dancing  fandangos  on  the  roof.  Although 
monks  have  in  their  turn  been  driven  off  the  Spanish  boards,  the 
national  drama  has  almost  made  its  exit  with  them.  The  genuine 
old  stage  held  up  the  mirror  to  Spanish  nature,  and  exhibited  real 
life  and  manners.  Its  object  was  rather  to  amuse  than  to  instruct, 
and  like  literature,  its  sister  exponent  of  existing  nationality,  it 
showed  in  action  what  the  picaresque  novels  detailed  in  descrip- 
tion. In  both  the  haughty  Hidalgo  was  the  hero;  cloaked  and 
armed  with  long  rapier  and  mustachios,  he  stalked  on  the  scene, 
made  love  and  fought  as  became  an  old  Castilian  whom  Charles 
V.  had  rendered  the  terror  and  the  model  of  Europe.  Spain, 
then,  like  a  successful  beauty,  took  a  proud  pleasure  in  looking 
at  herself  in  the  glass,  but  now  that  things  are  altered,  she  blushes 
at  beholding  a  portrait  of  her  grey  hairs  and  wrinkles ;  her  flag 
is  tattered,  her  robes  are  torn,  and  she  shrinks  from  the  humilia- 
tion of  truth.  If  she  appears  on  the  theatre  at  all,  it  is  to  revive 
long  by-gone  days — to  raise  the  Cid,  the  great  Captain,  or  Pizarro, 
from  their  graves ;  thus  blinking  the  present,  she  forms  hopes  for 
a  bright  future  by  the  revival  and  recollections  of  a  glorious  past. 
Accordingly  plays  representing  modern  Spanish  life  and  things, 
are  scouted  by  pit  and  boxes  as  vulgar  and  misplaced ;  nay,  even 
Lope  de  Vega  is  now  known  merely  by  name ;  his  comedies  are 
banished  from  the  boards  to  the  shelves  of  book-cases,  and  those 
for  the  most  part  out  of  Spain.  He  has  paid  the  certain  penalty 
of  his  national  localism,  of  his  portraying  men,  as  a  Spanish  va- 
riety, rather  than  a  universal  species.  He  has 'strutted  his  hour 
on  the  stage,  is  heard  no  more  ;  while  his  contemporary,  the  bard 
of  Avon,  who  drew  mankind  and  human  nature,  the  same  in  all 
times  and  places,  lives  in  the  human  heart  as  immortal  as  the 
principle  on  which  his  influence  is  founded. 

In  the  old  Spanish  plays,  the  imaginary  scenes  were  no  less 
full  of  intrigue  than  were  the  real  streets ;  then  the  point  of  honor 
was  nice,  women  were  immured  in  jealous  hareems,  and  access 
to  them,  which  is  easier  now,  formed  the  difficulty  of  lovers.  The 
curiosity  of  the  spectators  was  kept  on  tenter-hooks,  to  see  how  the 
parties  could  get  at  each  other,  and  out  of  the  consequent  scrapes. 
These  imbroglios  and  labyrinths  exactly  suited  a  pays  de  VimprtvUy 


MODERN   STAGE.  327 


where  things  turn  out  just  as  is  the  least  likely  to  be  calculated 
on.  The  progress  of  the  drama  of  Spain  was  as  full  of  action  and 
energy  as  that  of  France  was  of  dull  description  and  declamation. 
The  Bourbon  succession,  which  ruined  the  genuine  bull-fight,  de- 
stroyed the  national  drama  also;  a  flood  of  unities,  rules,  stilted 
nonsense,  and  conventionalities  poured  over  the  astonished  and 
affrighted  Pyrenees :  now  the  stage,  like  the  arena,  was  con- 
demned by  critics,  whose  one-idead  civilization  could  see  but  one 
class  of  excellence,  and  that  only  through  a  lorgnette  ground  in 
the  Palais  Royal.  Calderon  was  pronounced  to  be  as  great  a  barba- 
rian as  Shakspere,  and  this  by  empty  pretenders  who  did  not  under- 
stand one  word  of  either  : — and  now  again,  at  this  second  Bourbon 
irruption,  France  has  become  the  model  to  that  very  nation  from 
whom  her  Corneilles  and  Molieres  pilfered  many  a  plume,  which 
aided  them  to  soar  to  dramatic  fame.  Spain  is  now  reduced  to 
the  sad  shift  of  borrowing  from  her  pupil  those  very  arts  which 
she  herself  once  taught,  and  her  best  comedies  and  farces  are  but 
poor  translations  from  Mons.  Scribe  and  other  scribes  of  the  vaude- 
ville. Her  theatre,  like  everything  else,  has  sunk  into  a  pale 
copy  of  her  dominant  neighbor,  and  is  devoid  alike  of  originality, 
interest,  and  nationality. 

It  was  from  Spain  also  that  Europe  copied  the  arrangement  of 
the  modern  theatre ;  the  first  playhouses  there  were  merely  open 
covered  court-yards,  after  the  classical  fashion  of  Thespis.  The 
patio  became  the  pit,  into  which  women  were  never  admitted. 
The  rich  sat  at  the  windows  of  the  houses  round  the  court;  and 
as  almost  all  these  in  Spain  are  defended  by  iron  gratings,  the 
French  took  their  term,  loge  griltte,  for  a  private  box.  In  tbe 
centre  of  the  house,  above  the  pit,  was  a  sort  of  large  lower  gal- 
lery, which  was  called  la  tertulia,  a  name  given  in  those  times  to 
the  quarter  chosen  by  the  erudite,  among  whom  at  that  period  it 
was  the  fashion  to  quote  Tertulian.  The  women,  excluded  from 
the  pit,  had  a  place  reserved  for  themselves,  into  which  no  males 
were  allowed  to  enter — a  peculiarity  based  in  the  Gotho-Moro 
separation  of  the  sexes.  This  feminine  preserve  was  termed  la 
cazuela,  the  stewing  pan,  or  la  olla,  the  pipkin,  from  the  hodge- 
potch  admixture,  as  it  was  open  to  all  ranks  ;  it  was  also  called 
"lajaula  de  las  mugeres"  the  women's  cage — "  el  gallinero"  the 


328  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

henroost.  All  went  there,  as  to  church,  dressed  in  black,  and 
with  mantillas.  This  dark  assemblage  of  sable  tresses,  raven 
hair,  and  blacker  eyes,  looked  at  the  first  glance  like  the  gallery 
of  a  nunnery  ;  that  was,  however,  a  simile  of  dissimilitude,  for, 
let  there  be  but  a  moment's  pause  in  the  business  of  the  play,  then 
arose  such  a  cooing  and  cawing  in  this  rookery  of  turtle-doves, — 
such  an  ogling,  such  a  flutter  of  mantillas,  such  a  rustling  of  silks, 
such  telegraphic  workings  of  fans,  such  an  electrical  communica- 
tion with  the  Senores  below,  who  looked  up  with  wistful  glances 
on  the  dark  clustering  vineyard  so  tantalizingly  placed  above  their 
reach,  as  effectually  dispelled  all  ideas  of  seclusion,  sorrow,  or 
mortification.  This  unique  and  charming  pipkin  has  been  just 
now  done- away  with  at  Madrid,  because,  as  there  is  no  such  thing 
at  Convent  Garden,  or  Le  Francais,  it  might  look  antiquated  and 
un-European. 

The  theatres  of  Spain  are  small,  although  called  Coliseums, 
and  ill-contrived  ;  the  wardrobe  and  properties  are  as  scanty  as 
those  of  the  spectators,  Madrid  itself  not  excepted  ;  when  filled, 
the  smells  are  ultra-continental,  and  resemble  those  which  pre- 
vail at  Paris,  when  the  great  people  is  indulged  with  a  gratis  re- 
presentation ;  in  the  Spanish  theatres  no  neutralizing  incense  is 
used,  as  is  done  by  the  wise  clergy  in  their  churches.  If  the 
atmosphere  were  analyzed  by  Faraday,  it  would  be  found  to  con- 
tain equal  portions  of  stale  cigar  smoke  and  fresh  garlic  fume. 
The  lighting,  except  on  those  rare  occasions  when  the  theatre 
is  illuminated,  as  it  is  called,  is  just  intended  to  make  darkness 
visible,  and  there  was  no  seeing  into  the  henroosts  towards 
which  the  eyes  and  glasses  of  the  foxite  pittites  were  vainly  ele- 
vated. 

Spanish  tragedy,  even  when  the  Cid  spouts,  is  wearisome  ;  the 
language  is  stilty,  the  declamation  ranting,  French,  and  unna- 
tural ;  passion  is  torn  to  rags.  The  sainetes,  or  farces,  are 
broad,  but  amusing,  and  are  perfectly  well  acted  ;  the  national 
ones  are  disappearing,  but  when  brought  out  are  the  true  vehi- 
cles of  the  love  for  sarcasm,  satire,  and  intrigue,  the  mirth  and 
mother-wit,  for  which  Spaniards  are  so  remarkable  ;  and  no  peo- 
ple are  more  essentially  serio-comic  and  dramatic  than  they  are, 
whether  in  Venta,  Plaza,  or  church  ;  the  actors  in  their  amusing 


THE   BOLERO.  329 


farces  cease  to  be  actors,  and  the  whole  appears  to  be  a  scene  of 
real  life ;  there  generally  is  .a  gracioso  or  favorite  wag  of  the 
Liston  and  Keeley  species,  who  is  on  the  best  terms  with  the 
pit,  who  says  and  does  what  he  likes,  interlards  the  dialogue 
with  his  own  witticisms,  and  creates  a  laugh  before  he  even 
comes  on. 

The  orchestra  is  very  indifferent ;  the  Spaniards  are  fond 
enough  of  what  they  call  music,  whether  vocal  or  instrumental  ; 
but  it  is  Oriental,  and  most  unlike  the  exquisite  melody  and  per- 
formances of  Italy  or  Germany.  In  the  same  manner,  although 
they  have  footed  it  to  their  rude  songs  from  time  immemorial, 
they  have  no  idea  of  the  grace  and  elegance  of  the  French  ballet ; 
the  moment  they  attempt  it  they  become  ridiculous,  for  they  are 
bad  imitators  of  their  neighbors,  whether  in  cuisine,  language  or 
costume  ;  indeed  a  Spaniard  ceases  to  be  a  Spaniard  in  proportion 
as  he  becomes  an  Afrancesado  /  they  take,  in  their  jumpings  and 
chirpings,  after  the  grasshopper,  having  a  natural  genius  for  the 
lota  and  bolero.  The  great  charm  of  the  Spanish  theatres  is 
their  own  national  dance — matchless,  unequalled,  and  inimitable, 
and  only  to  be  performed  by  Andalucians.  This  is  la  -salsa  de 
la  comedia,  the  essence,  the  cream,  the  sauce  piquante  of  the 
night's  entertainments  ;  it  is  attempted  to  be  described  in  everj 
book  of  travels — for  who  can  describe  sound  or  motion  ? — it  must 
be  seen.  However  languid  the  house,  laughable  the  tragedy,  or 
serious  the  comedy,  the  sound  of  the  castanet  awakens  the  most 
listless  ;  the  sharp  spirit-stirring  click  is  heard  behind  the  scenes 
•  — the  effect  is  instantaneous — it  creates  life  under  the  ribs  of 
death — it  silences  the  tongues  of  countless  women — on  n'ecoute 
que  le  ballet.  The  curtain  draws  up  ;  the  bounding  pair  dart 
forward  from  the  opposite  sides,  like  two  separated  lovers,  who, 
after  long  search,  have  found  each  other  again,  nor  do  they  seem 
to  think  of  the  public,  but  only  of  each  other  ;  the  glitter  of  the 
gossamer  costume  of  the  Majo  and  Maja  seems  invented  for  this 
dance — the  sparkle  of  the  gold  lace  and  silver  filigree  adds  to  the 
lightness  of  their  motions  ;  the  transparent,  form  designing  saya 
of  the  lady,  heightens  the  charms  of  a  faultless  symmetry  which 
it  fain  would  conceal  ;  no  cruel  stays  fetter  her  s?rpentine  flex- 
ibility. They  pause — bend  forward  an  instant — prove  their  sup- 


S30  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

pie  limbs  and  arms  ;  the  band  strikes  up,  they  turn  fondly  to- 
wards  each  other,  and  start  into  life.  What  exercise  displays 
the  ever-varying  charms  of  female  grace,  and  the  contours 
of  manly  form,  like  this  fascinating  dance  ?  The  accompani- 
ment of  the  castanet  gives  employment  to  their  upraised  arms. 
C'est,  say  the  French,  le  pantomime  d'amour.  The  enamored 
youth  persecutes  the  coy,  coquettish  maiden  ;  who  shall  describe 
the  advance — her  timid  retreat,  his  eager  pursuit,  like  Apollo 
chasing  Daphne  ?  Now  they  gaze  on  each  other,  now  on  the 
ground  •  now  all  is  life,  love,  and  action  ;  now  there  is  a  pause 
— they  stop  motionless  at  a  moment,  and  grow  into  the  earth.  It 
carries  all  before  it.  There  is  a  truth  which  overpowers  the 
fastidious  judgment.  Away,  then,  with  the  studied  grace  of  the 
French  danseuse,  beautiful  but  artificial,  cold  and  selfish  as  is 
the  flicker  of  her  love,  compared  to  the  real  impassioned  abandon 
of  the  daughters  of  the  South  !  There  is  nothing  indecent  in  this 
dance  ;  no  one  is  tired  or  the  worse  for  it ;  indeed  its  only  fault 
is  its  being  too  short,  for  as  Moliere  says,  "  Un  ballet  ne  saurait 
etre  trop  long,  pourvu  que  la  morale  soit  bonne,  et  la  metaphy- 
sique  bien  entendue."  Notwithstanding  this  most  profound  re- 
mark, the  Toledan  clergy  out  of  mere  jealousy  wished  to  put  the 
bolero  down,  on  the  pretence  of  immorality.  The  dancers  were 
allowed  in  evidence  to  "  give  a  wew"  to  the  court :  when  they 
began,  the  bench  and  bar  showed  symptoms  of  restlessness,  and 
at  last,  casting  aside  gowns  and  briefs,  both  joined,  as  if  tarantula- 
bitten,  in  the  irresistible  capering — Verdict,  for  the  defendants 
with  costs. 

This  Baile  national,  however  adored  by  foreigners,  is  alas  ! 
beginning  to  be  looked  down  upon  by  those  ill-advised  senoras 
who  wear  French  bonnets  in  the  boxes,  instead  of  Spanish  man- 
tillas. The  dance  is  suspected  of  not  being  European  or  civil- 
ized ;  its  best  chance  of  surviving  is,  the  fact  that  it  is  positively 
fashionable  on  the  boards  of  London  and  Paris.  These  national 
exercises  are  however  firmly  rooted  among  the  peasants  and 
lower  classes.  The  different  provinces,  as  they  have  a  different 
language,  costume,  &c.,  have  also  their  own  peculiar  local  dances, 
which,  like  their  wines,  fine  arts,  relics,  saints  and  sausages,  can 
only  be  really  relished  on  the  spots  themselves. 


PRIVATE   DANCES.  331 


The  dances  of  the  better  classes  of  Spaniards  in  private  life 
are  much  the  same  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  noflr  is  either  sox 
particularly  distinguished  by  grace  in  this  amusement,  to  which, 
however  both  are  much  addicted.  It  is  not,  however,  yet  thought 
to  be  a  proof  of  bon  ton  to  dance  as  badly  as  possible,  and  with 
the  greatest  appearance  of  bore,  that  appendage  of  the  so-called 
gay  world.  These  dances,  as  everything  national  is  excluded, 
are  without  a  particle  of  interest  to  any  one  except  the  performers. 
An  extempore  ball,  which  might  be  called  a  carpet-dance,  if 
there  were  any,  forms  the  common  conclusion  of  a  winter's  tertu- 
tia,  or  social  meetings,  at  which  no  great  attention  is  paid  either 
to  music,  costume,  or  Mr.  Gunter.  Here  English  country  dances, 
French  quadrilles,  and  German  waltzes  are  the  order  of  the  night ; 
everything  Spanish  being  excluded,  except  the  plentiful  want  of 
good  fiddling,  lighting,  dressing,  and  eating,  which  never  distresses 
the  company,  for  the  frugal,  temperate,  and  easily-pleased  Span- 
iard enters  with  schoolboy  heart  and  soul  into  the  reality  of  any 
holiday,  which  being  joy  sufficient  of  itself  lacks  no  artificial  en- 
hancement. 

Dancing  at  all  is  a  novelty  among  Spanish  ladies,  which  was 
introduced  with  the  Bourbons.  As  among  the  Romans  and  Moors, 
it  was  before  thought  undignified.  Performers  were  hired  to  amuse 
the  inmates  of  the  Christian  hareem  ;  to  mix  and  change  hands 
with  men  was  not  to  be  thought  of  for  an  instant ;  and  to  this  day 
few  Spanish  women  shake  hands  with  men — the  shock  is  too  elec- 
trical ;  they  only  give  them  with  their  hearts,  and  for  good. 

The  lower  classes,  who  are  a  trifle  less  particular,  and  among 
whom,  by  the  blessing  of  Santiago,  the  foreign  dancing  master  is 
not  abroad,  adhere  to  the  primitive  steps  and  tunes  of  their  Orien- 
tal forefathers.  Their  accompaniments  are  the  "  tabret  and  the 
harp ;"  the  guitar,  the  tambourine,  and  the  castanet.  The 
essence  of  these  instruments  is  to  give  a  noise  on  being  beaten. 
Simple  as  it  may  seem  to  play  on  the  latter,  it  is  only  attained  by 
a  quick  ear  and  finger,  and  great  practice  ;  accordingly  these 
delights  of  the  people  are  always  in  their  hands  ;  practice  makes 
perfect,  and  many  a  performer,  dusky  as  a  Moor,  rivals  Ethiopian 
"  Bones"  himself;  they  take  to  it  before  their  alphabet,  since  the 
very  urchins  in  the  street  begin  to  learn  by  snapping  their  fingers, 


332  THE  SPANIARDS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 

or  clicking  together  two  shells  or  bits  of  slate,  to  which  they 
dance  ;  in  truth,  next  to  noise,  some  capering  seems  essential,  as 
the  safety-valve  exponents  of  what  Cervantes  describes,  the 
"  bounding  of  the  soul,  the  bursting  of  laughter,  the  restlessness  of 
the  body,  and  the  quicksilver  of  the  five  senses."  It  is  the  rude 
spcrt  of  people  who  dance  from  the  necessity  of  motion,  the  relief 
of  the  young,  the  healthy,  and  the  joyous  to  whom  life  is  of  itself 
a  blessing,  and  who  like  skipping  kids,  thus  give  vent  to  their  su- 
perabundant lightness  of  heart  and  limb.  Sancho,  a  true  Man- 
chegan,  after  beholding  the  strange  saltatory  exhibitions  of  his 
master,  in  somewhat  an  incorrect  ball  costume,  professes  his 
ignorance  of  such  elaborate  dancing,  but  maintained  that  for  a 
zapateo,  a  knocking  of  shoes,  none  could  beat  him.  Unchanged 
as  are  the  instruments,  so  are  the  dancing  propensities  of  Span- 
iards. All  night  long,  three  thousand  years  ago,  say  the  histori- 
ans, did  they  dance  and  sing,  or  rather  jump  and  yell,  to  these 
"  howlings  of  Tarshish  ;"  and  so  far  from  its  being  a  fatigue,  they 
kept  up  the  ball  all  night  by  way  of  resting. 

The  Gallicians  and  Asturians  retain  among  many  of  their 
aboriginal  dances  and  tunes,  a  wild  Pyrrhic  jumping,  which,  with 
their  shillelah  in  hand,  is  like  the  Gaelic  Ghillee  Callum,  and 
is  the  precise  Iberian  armed  dance  which  Hannibal  had  performed 
at  the  impressive  funeral  of  Gracchus.  These  quadrille  figures 
are  intricate  and  warlike,  requiring,  as  was  said  of  the  Iberian 
performances,  much  leg-activity,  for  which  the  wiry  sinewy 
active  Spaniards  are  still  remarkable.  These  are  the  Morris 
dances  imported  from  Gallicia  by  our  John  of  Gaunt,  who  sup- 
posed they  were  Moorish.  The  peasants  still  dance  them  in  their 
best  costumes,  to  the  antique  castanet,  pipe,  and  tambourine. 
They  are  usually  directed  by  a  master  of  the  ceremonies,  or  what 
is  equivalent,  a  parti-colored  fool,  Muyog ;  which  may  be  the 
etymology  of  Morris. 

These  comparsas,  or  national  quadrilles,  were  the  hearty  wel- 
come which  the  peasants  were  paid  to  give  to  the  sons  of  Louis 
Philippe  at  Vitoria ;  such,  too,  we  have  often  beheld  gratis,  and 
performed  by  eight  men,  with  castanets  in  their  hands,  and  to  the 
tune  of  a  fife  and  drum,  while  a  Bastonero.  or  leader  of  the  band, 
clad  in  gaudy  raiment  like  a  pantaloon,  directed  the  rustic  ballet ; 


GADITANIAN   GIRLS.  333 

around  were  grouped  payesas  y  aldeanas,  dressed  in  tight  bodices, 
with  panuelos  on  their  heads,  their  hair  hanging  down  behind  in 
Irensas,  and  their  necks  covered  with  blue  and  coral  beads;  the 
men  bound  up  their  long  locks  with  red  hankerchiefs,  and  danced 
in  their  shirts,  the  sleeves  of  which  were  puckered  up  with  bows 
of  different  colored  ribands,  crossed  also  over  the  back  and  breast, 
and  mixed  with  scapularies  and  small  prints  of  saints;  their 
drawers  were  white,  and  full  as  the  bragas  of  the  Valencians, 
like  whom  they  wore  alpargatas,  or  hemp  sandals  laced  with  blue 
strings ;  the  figure  of  the  dance  was  very  intricate,  consisting  of 
much  circling,  turning,  and  jumping,  and  accompanied  with  loud 
cries  of  viva !  at  each  change  of  evolution.  These  comparsas 
are  undoubtedly  a  remnant  of  the  original  Iberian  exhibitions,  in 
which,  as  among  the  Spartans  and  wild  Indians,  even  in  relaxa- 
tions a  warlike  principle  was  maintained.  The  dancers  beat  time 
with  their  swords  on  their  shields,  and  when  one  of  their  cham- 
pions wished  to  show  his  contempt  for  the  Romans,  he  executed 
before  them  a  derisive  pirouette.  Was  this  remembered  the  other 
day  at  Vitoria  ? 

But  in  Spain  at  every  moment  one  retraces  the  steps  of  anti- 
quity ;  thus  still  on  the  banks  of  the  Boetis  may  be  seen  those 
dancing-girls  of  profligate  Gades,  which  Avere  exported  to  ancient 
Rome,  with  pickled  tunnies,  to  the  delight  of  wicked  epicures 
and  the  horror  of  the  good  fathers  of  the  early  church,  who  com- 
pared them,  and  perhaps  justly,  to  the  capering  performed  by 
the  daughter  of  Herodias.  They  were  prohibited  by  Theodosius, 
because,  according  to  St.  Chrysostom,  at  such  balls  the  devil  never 
wanted  a  partner.  The  well-known  statue  at  Naples  called  the 
Venere  Callipige  is  the  representation  of  Telethusa,  or  some  other 
Cadiz  dancing-girl.  Seville  is  now  in  these  matters,  what  Gades 
was  ;  never  there  is  wanting  some  venerable  gipsy  hag,  who  will 
get  up  a  funcion  as  these  pretty  proceedings  are  called,  a  word 
taken  from  the  pontifical  ceremonies  ;  for  Italy  set  the  fashion  to 
Spain  once,  as  France  does  now.  These  festivals  must  be  paid 
for,  since  the  gitanesque  race,  according  to  Cervantes,  were  only 
sent  into  this  world  as  "  fish-hooks  for  purses."  The  callees  when 
young  are  very  pretty — then  they  have  such  wheedling  ways, 


334  THE   SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


and  traffic  on  such  sure  wants  arid  wishes,  since  to  Spanish  men 
they  prophesy  gold,  to  women,  husbands. 

The  scene  of  the  ball  is  generally  placed  in  the  suburb  Triana, 
which  is  the  Transtevere  of  the  town,  and  the  home  of  bull-fighters, 
smugglers,  picturesque  rogues,  and  Egyptians,  whose  women  are 
the  premieres  danseuses  on  these  occasions,  in  which  men  never 
take  a  part.  The  house  selected  is  usually  one  of  those  semi- 
Moorish  abodes  and  perfect  pictures,  where  rags,  poverty,  and 
ruin,  are  mixed  up  with  marble  columns,  figs,  fountains  and 
grapes  ;  the  party  assembles  in  some  stately  saloon,  whose  gilded 
Arab  roof — safe  from  the  spoiler — hangs  over  whitewashed  walls, 
and  the  few  wooden  benches  on  which  the  chaperons  and  invited 
are  seated,  among  whom  quantity  is  rather  preferred  to  quality  ; 
nor  would  the  company  or  costume  perhaps  be  admissible  at  the 
Mansion-house  ;  but  here  the  past  triumphs  over  the  present ;  the 
dance  which  is  closely  analogous  to  the  Ghowasee  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  the  Nautch  of  the  Hindoos,  is  called  the  Ole  by  Span- 
iards, the  Romalis  by  their  gipsies  ;  the  soul  and  essence  of  it  con- 
sists in  the  expression  of  certain  sentiment,  one  not  indeed  of  a 
very  sentimental  or  correct  character.  The  ladies,  who  seem  to 
have  no  bones,  resolve  the  problem  of  perpetual  motion,  their  feet 
having  comparatively  a  sinecure,  as  the  whole  person  performs  a 
pantomime,  and  trembles  like  an  aspen  leaf;  the  flexible  form  and 
Terpsichore  figure  of  a  young  Andalucian  girl — be  she  gipsy  or 
not — is  said  by  the  learned,  to  have  been  designed  by  nature  as 
the  fit  frame  for  her  voluptuous  imagination. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  scholar  and  classical  commentator  will 
every  moment  quote  Martial,  &c.,  when  he  beholds  the  unchanged 
balancing  of  hands,  raised  as  if  to  catch  showers  of  roses,  the 
tapping  of  the  feet,  and  the  serpentine,  quivering  movements.  A 
contagious  excitement  seizes  the  spectators,  who,  like  Orientals, 
beat  time  with  their  hands  in  measured  cadence,  and  at  every 
pause  applaud  with  cries  and  clappings.  The  damsels  thus  en- 
couraged, continue  in  violent  action  until  nature  is  all  but  exhaust- 
ed ;  then  aniseed  brandy,  wine,  and  alpisteras  are  handed  about, 
and  the  fete,  carried  on  to  early  dawn,  often  concludes  in  broken 
heads,  which  here  are  called  "gipsy's  fare."  These  dances  ap- 
pear to  a  stranger  from  the  chilly  north,  to  be  more  marked  by 


OPERA  IN  SPAIN.  335 


energy  than  by  grace,  nor  have  the  legs  less  to  do  than  the  body, 
hips,  and  arms.  The  sight  of  this  unchanged  pastime  of  antiquity, 
which  excites  the  Spaniards  to  frenzy,  rather  disgusts  an  English 
spectator,  probably  from  some  national  malorganization,  for,  as 
Moliere  says,  "  1'Angleterre  a  produit  des  grands  hommes  dans  les 
sciences  et  let  beaux  arts,  mais  pas  un  grand  danseur — allez  lire 
Fhistoire."  'However  indecent  these  dances  may  be,  yet  the  per- 
formers are  inviolably  chaste,  and  as  far  at  least  as  ungipsy  guests 
are  concerned,  may  be  compared  to  iced  punch  at  a  rout ;  young 
girls  go  through  them  before  the  applauding  eyes  of  their  parents 
and  brothers,  who  would  resent  to  the  death  any  attempt  on  their 
sisters'  virtue. 

During  the  lucid  intervals  between  the  ballet  and  the  brandy, 
La  cana,.  the  true  Arabic  gaunia,  song,  is  administered  as  a 
soother  by  some  hirsute  artiste,  without  frills,  studs,  diamonds,  or 
kid  gloves,  whose  staves,  sad  and  melancholy,  always  begin  and 
end  with  an  ay !  a  high-pitched  sigh,  or  cry.  These  Moorish 
melodies,  relics  of  auld  lang  syne,  are  best  preserved  in  the  hill- 
built  villages  near  Ronda,  where  there  are  no  roads  for  the  mem- 
bers of  Queen  Christina's  Conservatorio  Napolitano ;  wherever 
1'academie  tyrannizes,  and  the  Italian  opera  prevails,  adieu,  alas  ! 
to  the  tropes  and  tunes  of  the  people  :  and  now-a-days  the  opera 
exotic  is  cultivated  in  Spain  by  the  higher  classes,  because,  being 
fashionable  at  London  and  Paris,  it  is  an  exponent  of  the  civili- 
zation of  1846.  Although  the  audience  in  their  honest  hearts 
are  as  much  bored  there  as  elsewhere,  yet  the  affair  is  pronounced 
by  them  to  be  charming,  because  if  is  so  expensive,  so  select,  and 
so  far  above  the  comprehension  of  the  vulgar.  Avoid  it,  how- 
ever, in  Spain,  ye  our  fair  readers,  for  the  second-rate  singers 
are  not  fit  to  hold  the  score  to  those  of  thy  own  dear  Hay- 
market. 

The  real  opera  of  Spain  is  in  the  shop  of  the  Barbero  or  in  the 
court-yard  of  the  Venta  ;  in  truth,  good  music,  whether  harmo- 
nious or  scientific,  vocal  or  instrumental,  is  seldom  heard  in  this 
land,  notwithstanding  the  eternal  strumming  and  singing  that  is 
going  on  there.  The  very  masses,  as  performed  in  the  cathedrals, 
from  the  introduction  of  the  pianoforte  and  the  violin,  have  very 
little  impressive  or  devotional  character.  The  fiddle  disenchants. 


336  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR   COUNTRY. 


Even  Murillo,  when  he  clapped  catgut  under  a  cherub  chin  in 
the  clouds,  thereby  damaged  the  angelic  sentiment.  Let  none 
despise  the  genuine  songs  and  instruments  of  the  Peninsula,  as 
excellence  in  music  is  multiform,  and  much  of  it,  both  in  name 
and  substance,  is  conventional.  Witness  a  whining  ballad  sung 
by  a  chorus  out  of  work,  to  encoring  crowds  in  the  streets  of 
merry  old  England,  or  a  bagpipe-tune  played  in  Ross-shire,  which 
enchants  the  highlanders,  who  cry  that  strain  again,  but  scares 
away  the  gleds.  Let  therefore  the  Spaniards  enjoy  also  what 
they  call  music,  although  fastidious  foreigners  condemn  it  as 
Iberian  and  Oriental.  They  love  to  have  it  so,  and  will  have 
their  own  way,  in  their  own  time  and  tune,  Rossini  and  Paganini 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  They — not  the  Italians — are 
listened  to  by  a  delighted  semi-Moro  audience,  with  a  most  pro- 
found Oriental  and  melancholy  attention.  Like  their  love,  their 
music,  which  is  its  food,  is  a  serious  affair;  yet  the  sad  song,  the 
guitar,  and  dance,  at  this  moment,  form  the  joy  of  careless  poverty, 
the  repose  of  sunburnt  labor.  The  poor  forget  their  toils,  sans 
six  sous  et  sans  souci ;  nay,  even  their  meals,  like  Pliny's  friend 
Claro,  who  lost  his  supper,  Batican  olives  and  gazpacho,  to  run 
after  a  Gaditanian  dancing-girl. 

In  venta  and  court-yard,  in  spite  of  a  long  day's  work  and 
scanty  fare,  at  the  sound  of  the  guitar  and  click  of  the  Castanet, 
a  new  life  is  breathed  into  their  veins.  So  far  from  feeling  past 
fatigue,  the  very  fatigue  of  the  dance  seems  refreshing,  and  many 
a  weary  traveller  will  rue  the  midnight  frolics  of  his  noisy  and 
saltatory  fellow  lodgers.  Supper  is  no  sooner  over  than  "  apres 
la  panse  la  danse," — some  muscular  masculine  performer,  the 
very  antithesis  of  Farinelli,  screams  forth  his  couplets,  "  screechin 
out  his  prosaic  verse,"  either  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  or  drawls 
out  his  ballad,  melancholy  as  the  drone  of  a  Lincolnshire  bagpipe, 
and  both  alike  to  the  imminent  danger  of  his  own  trachea,  and  of 
all  un-Spanish  acoustic  organs.  For  verily,  to  repeat  Gray's  un- 
handsome critique  of  the  grand  Opera  Fran^ais,  it  consists  of 
"  des  miaulemens  et  des  hurlemens  effroyables,  meles  avec  un 
tintamare  du  diable."  As,  however,  in  Paris,  so  in  Spain,  the 
audience  are  in  raptures ;  all  men's  ears  grow  to  the  tunes  as  if 
they  had  eaten  ballads ;  all  join  in  chorus  at  the  end  of  each 


THE  GUITAR.  33* 


verse  ;  this  "  private  band,"  as  among  the  sangre  su,  supplies  the 
want  of  conversation,  and  converts  a  stupid  silence  into  scientific 
attention, — ainsi  les  extremes  se  touchent.  There  is  always  in 
every  company  of  Spaniards,  whether  soldiers,  civilians,  muleteers, 
or  ministers,  some  one  who  can  play  the  guitar  more  or  less,  like 
Louis  XIV.,  who,  according  to  Voltaire,  was  taught  nothing  but 
that  and  dancing.  Godoy,  the  Prince  of  the  Peace,  one  of  the 
most  worthless  of  the  multitude  of  worthless  ministers  by  whom 
Spain  has  been  misgoverned,  first  captivated  the  royal  Messalina 
by  his  talent  of  strumming  on  the  guitar  ;  so  Gonzales  Bravo, 
editor  of  the  Madrid  Satirist,  rose  to  be  premier,  and  conciliated 
the  virtuous  Christina,  who,  soothed  by  the  sweet  sounds  of  this 
pepper-and-salted  Amphion,  forgot  his  libels  on  herself  and 
Senor  Muiioz.  It  may  be  predicted  of  the  Spain!,  that  when 
this  strumming  is  mute,  the  game  will  be  up,  as  the  Hebrew 
expression  for  the  ne  plus  ultra  desolation  of  an  Oriental  city 
is  "  the  ceasing  of  the  mirth  of  the  guitar  and  tambourine." 

In  Spain  whenever  and  wherever  the  siren  sounds  are  heard,  a 
party  is  forthwith  got  up  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  who  are  attracted 
by  the  tinkling  like  swarming  bees.  The  guitar  is  part  and 
parcel  of  the  Spaniard  and  his  ballads  ;  he  slings  it  across  his 
shoulder  with  a  ribbon,  as  was  depicted  on  the  tombs  of  Egypt 
.  four  thousand  years  ago.  The  performers  seldom  are  very  scien- 
tific musicians ;  they  content  themselves  with  striking  the  chords, 
sweeping  the  whole  hand  over  the  strings,  or  flourishing,  and 
tapping  the  board  with  the  thumb,  at  which  they  are  very 
expert.  Occasionally  in  the  towns  there  is  some  one  who  has 
attained  more  power  over  this  ungrateful  instrument ;  but  the 
attempt  is  a  failure.  The  guitar  responds  coldly  to  Italian 
words  and  elaborate  melody,  which  never  come  home  to  Spanish 
ears  or  hearts  ;  for,  like  the  lyre  of  Anacreon,  however  often  he 
might  change  the  strings,  love,  sweet  love,  is  its  only  theme. 
The  multitude  suit  the  tune  to  the  song,  both  of  which  are 
frequently  extemporaneous.  They  lisp  in  numbers,  not  to  say 
verse  ;  but  their  splendid  idiom  lends  itself  to  a  prodigality  of 
words,  whether  prose  or  poetry ;  nor  are  either  very  difficult, 
where  common  sense  is  no  necessary  ingredient  in  the  compo- 
sition ;  accordingly  the.  language  comes  in  aid  to  the  fertile 

PART    IT.  16 


338  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

mother-wit  of  the  natives ;  rhymes  are  dispensed  with  at  pleasure, 
or  mixed  according  to  caprice  with  assonants  which  consist  of 
the  mere  recurrence  of  the  same  vowels,  without  reference  to 
that  of  consonants,  and  even  these,  which  poorly  fill  a  foreign 
ear,  are  not  always  observed  ;  a  change  in  intonation,  or  a  few 
thumps  more  or  less  on  the  board,  do  the  work,  supersede  all 
difficulties,  and  constitute  a  rude  prosody,  and  lead  to  music  just 
as  gestures  do  to  dancing  and  to  ballads, — "  que  se  canta  bal- 
lando ;"  and  which,  when  heard,  reciprocally  inspire  a  Saint 
Vitus's  desire  to  snap  fingers  and  kick  heels,  as  all  will  admit 
in  whose  ears  the  liabas  verdes  of  Leon,  or  the  cachuca  of  Cadiz, 
yet  ring. 

The  words  destined  to  set  all  this  capering  in  motion  are  not 
written  for  cold  British  critics.  Like  sermons,  they  are  deli- 
vered orally,  and  are  never  subjected  to  the  disenchanting  ordeal 
of  type :  and  even  such  as  may  be  professedly  serious  and  not 
saltatory  are  listened  to  by  those  who  come  attuned  to  the  hear- 
ing vein — who  anticipate  and  re-echo  the  subject — who  are  ope- 
rated on  by  the  contagious  bias.  Thus  a  fascinated  audience  of 
otherwise  sensible  Britons  tolerates  the  positive  presence  of  non- 
sense at  an  opera — 

"  Where  rhyme  with  reason  does  dispense. 
And  sound  has  right  to  govern  sense.;; 

In  order  to  feel  the  full  power  of  the  guitar  and  Spanish  song, 
the  performer  should  be  a  sprightly  Andaluza,  taught  or  un- 
taught ;  she  wields  the  instrument  as  her  fan  or  mantilla ;  it 
seems  to  become  portion  of  herself,  and  alive ;  indeed  the  whole 
thing  requires  an  abandon,  a  fire,  a  gratia,  which  could  not 
be  risked  by  ladies  of  more  northern  climates  and  more 
tightly-laced  zones.  No  wonder  one  of  the  old  fathers  of  the 
church  said  that  he  would  sooner  face  a  singing  basilisk  than  one 
of  these  performers  :  she  is  good  for  nothing  when  pinned  down 
to  a  piano,  on  which  few  Spanish  women  play  even  tolerably, 
and  so  with  her  singing,  when  she  attempts  l  Adelaide/  or  any- 
thing in  the  sublime,  beautiful,  and  serious,  her  failure  is  dead 
certain,  while,  taken  in  her  own  line,  she  is  triumphant;  the 
words  of  her  song  are  often  struck  off,  like  Theodore  Hook's,  at 


MOORISH  GUITARS.  33* 

the  moment,  and  allude  to  incidents  and  persons  present ;  some- 
times they  are  full  of  epigram  and  double  entendre;  they  often 
sing  what  may  not  be  spoken,  and  steal  hearts  through  ears,  like 
the  Sirens,  or  as  Cervantes  has  it,  cuando  cantan  encantan.  At 
other  times  their  song  is  little  better  than  meaningless  jingle,  with 
which  the  listeners  are  just  as  well  satisfied.  For,  as  Figaro  says 
— "  ce  qui  ne  vaut  pas  la  peine  d'etre  dit,  on  le  chante."  A 
good  voice,  which  Italians  call  novanta-nove,  ninety-nine  parts 
out  of  the  hundred,  is  very  rare  ;  nothing  strikes  a  traveller  more 
unfavorably  than  the  harsh  voice  of  the  women  in  general ;  never 
mind,  these  ballad  songs  from  the  most  remote  antiquity  have 
formed  the  delight  of  the  people,  have  tempered  the  despotism  of 
their  church  and  state,  have  sustained  a  nation's  resistance  against 
foreign  aggression. 

There  is  very  little  music  ever  printed  in  Spain ;  the  songs  and 
airs  are  generally  sold  in  MS.  Sometimes,  for  the  very  illiterate, 
the  notes  are  expressed  in  numeral  figures,  which  correspond  with 
the  number  of  the  strings. 

The  best  guitars  in  the  world  were  made  appropriately  in 
Cadiz  by  the  Pajez  family,  father  and  son ;  of  course  an  instru- 
ment in  so  much  vogue  was  always  an  object  of  most  careful 
thought  in  fair  Baetica  ;  thus  in  the  seventh  century  the  Sevillian 
guitar  was  shaped  like  the  human  breast,  because,  as  archbishops 
said,  the  chords  signified  the  pulsations  of  the  heart,  a  corde. 
The  instruments  of  the  Andalucian  Moors  were  strung  after 
these  significant  heartstrings  ;  Zaryab  remodelled  the  guitar  by 
adding  a  fifth  string  of  bright  red,  to  represent  blood,  the  treble 
or  first  being  yellow  to  indicate  bile  ;  and  to  this  hour,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Guadalquivir,  when  dusky  eve  calls  forth  the 
cloaked  serenader,  the  ruby  drops  of  the  heart  female,  are  more 
surely  liquefied  by  a  judicious  manipulation  of  cat-gut,  than 
ever  were  those  of  San  Januario  by  book  or  candle  ;  nor,  so 
it  is  said,  when  the  tinkling  is  continuous  are  all  martial  livers 
unwrung. 

However  that  may  be,  the  sad  tunes  of  these  Oriental  ditties 
are  still  effective  in  spite  of  their  antiquity ;  indeed  certain  sounds 
have  a  mysterious  aptitude  to  express  certain  moods  of  the  mind, 
in  connexion  with  some  unexplained  sympathy  between  the  sen- 


340  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

tient  and  intellectual  organs,  and  the  simplest  are  by  far  the  most 
ancient.  Ornate  melody  is  a  modern  invention  from  Italy  ;  and 
although  in  lands  of  greater  intercourse  and  fastidiousness,  the 
conventional  has  ejected  the  national,  fashion  has  not  shamed  or 
silenced  the  old  airs  of  Spain — those  "  howlings  of  Tarshish." 
Indeed,  national  tunes,  like  the  songs  of  birds,  are  not  taught  in 
orchestras,  but  by  mothers  to  their  infant  progeny  in  the  cradling 
nest.  As  the  Spaniard  is  warlike  without  being  military,  salta- 
tory without  being  graceful,  so  he  is  musical  without  being  har- 
monious ;  he  is  just  the  raw  man  material  made  by  nature,  and 
treats  himself  as  he  does  the  raw  products  of  his  soil,  by  leaving 
art  and  final  development  to  the  foreigner. 

The  day  that  he  becomes  a  scientific  fiddler,  or  a  capital  cotton 
spinner,  his  charm  will  be  at  an  end  ;  long  therefore  may  he  turn 
a  deaf  ear  to  moralists  and  political  economists,  who  cannot  abide 
the  guitar,  who  say  that  it  has  done  more  harm  to  Spain  than 
hail-stones  or  drought,  by  fostering  a  prodigious  idleness  and  love- 
making,  whereby  the  land  is  cursed  with  a  greater  surplus  of 
foundlings,  than  men  of  fortune  ;  how  indeed  can  these  calami- 
ties be  avoided,  when  the  tempter  hangs  up  this  fatal  instrument  ' 
on  a  peg  in  every  house  ?  Our  immelodious  laborers  and  unsal- 
tatory  operatives  are  put  forth  by  Manchester  missionaries  as  an 
example  of  industry  to  the  Majos  and  Manolas  of  Spain :  "  be- 
hold how  they  toil,  twelve  and  fourteen  hours  every  day  ;"  yet 
these  philanthropists  should  remember  that  from  their  having  no 
other  recreation  beyond  the  public  or  dissenting-house,  they  pine 
when  unemployed,  because  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  them- 
selves when  idle  ;  this  to  most  Spaniards  is  a  foretaste  of  the 
bliss  of  heaven,  while  occupation,  thought  in  England  to  be  hap- 
piness, is  the  treadmill  doom  of  the  lost  forever.  Nor  can  it  be 
denied  that  the  facility  of  junketing  in  the  Peninsula,  the  grapes, 
guitars,  songs,  skippings  and  other  incidents  to  fine  climate,  mili- 
tate against  that  dogged,  desperate,  determined  hard-working,  by 
which  our  laborers  beat  the  world  hollow,  fiddling  and  pirouetting 
being  excepted. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  CIGAR.  34 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

Manufacture  of  Cigars — Tobacco — Smuggling  via  Gibraltar — Cigars  of 
Ferdinand  VII. — Making  a  Cigarrito — Zumalacarreguy  and  the  School- 
master— Time  and  Money  wasted  in  Smoking — Postscript  on  Spanish 
Stock. 

BUT  whether  at  bull-fight  or  theatre,  be  he  lay  or  clerical, 
every  Spaniard  who  can  afford  it,  consoles  himself  continually 
with  cigar,  sleep — not  bed — time  only  excepted.  This  is  his 
nepenthe,  his  pleasure  opiate,  which,  like  Souchong,  soothes  but 
does  not  inebriate  ;  it  is  to  him  his  "  Te  veniente  die  et  te 
decedente." 

The  manufacture  of  the  cigar  is  the  most  active  one  carried  on 
in  the  Peninsula.  The  buildings  are  palaces  ;  witness  those  at. 
Seville,  Malaga,  and  Valencia.  Since  a  cigar  is  a  sine  qua  non 
in  every  Spaniard's  mouth,  for  otherwise  he  would  resemble  a 
house  without  a  chimney,  a  steamer  without  a  funnel,  it  must 
have  its  page  in  every  Spanish  book  ;  indeed,  as  one  of  the  most 
learned  native  authors  remarked,  "  You  will  think  me  tiresome 
with  my  tobacconistical  details,  but  the  vast  bulk  of  readers  will 
be  more  pleased  with  it,  than  with  an  account  of  all  the  pictures 
in  the  world."  They  all  opine,  that  a  good  cigar — an  article 
scarce  in  this  land  of  smoking  and  contradiction — keeps  a  Chris- 
tian hidalgo  cooler  in  summer  and  warmer  in  winter  than  his 
wife  and  cloak  ;  while  at  all  times  and  seasons  it  diminishes  sor- 
row and  doubles  joy,  as  a  man's  better  half  does  in  Great  Bri- 
tain. "  The  fact  is,  Squire,"  says  Sam  Slick,  "  the  moment  a  man 
takes  to  a  pipe  he  becomes  a  philosopher  ;  it  is  the  poor  man's 
friend  ;  it  calms  the  mind,  soothes  the  temper,  and  makes  a  man 
patient  under  trouble."  Can  it  be  wondered  at,  that  the  Oriental 
and  Spanish  population  should  cling  to  this  relief  from  whips  and 
scorns,  and  the  oppressor's  wrong,  or  steep  in  sweet  oblivious 
stupefaction  the  misery  of  being  fretted  and  excited  by  empty 


342  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

larders,  vicious  political  institutions,  and  a  very  hot  climate  ? 
They  believe  that  it  deadens  their  over-excitable  imagination,  and 
appeases  their  too  exquisite  nervous  sensibility  ;  they  agree  with 
Moliere,  although  they  never  read  him,  "  Quoique  Ton  puisse 
dire,  Aristote  et  toute  la  philosophic,  il  n'y  a  rien  d'egal  au 
tabac."  The  divine  Isaac  Barrow  resorted  to  this  panpharmacon 
whenever  he  wished  to  collect  his  thoughts  ;  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
the  patron  of  Virginia,  smoked  a  pipe  just  before  he  lost  his  head, 
"  at  which  some  formal  people  were  scandalized  ;  but,"  adds 
Aubrey,  "  I  think  it  was  properly  done  to  settle  his  spirits." 
The  pedant  James,  who  condemned  both  Raleigh  and  tobacco, 
said  the  bill  of  fare  of  the  dinner  which  he  should  give  his  Sa- 
tanic majesty,  would  be  "  a  pig,  a  poll  of  ling,  and  mustard,  with 
a  pipe  of  tobacco  for  digestion."  So  true  it  is  that  "  what's  one 
man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison  ;"  but  at  all  events,  in  hun- 
gry Spain  it  is  both  meat  and  drink,  and  the  chief  smoke  con- 
nected with  proceedings  of  the  mouth  issues  from  labial,  not  house 
chimneys. 

Tobacco,  this  anodyne  for  the  irritability  of  human  reason,  is, 
like  spirituous  liquors  which  make  it  drunk,  a  highly-taxed  arti- 
cle in  all  civilized  societies.  In  Spain,  the  Bourbon  dynasty  (as 
elsewhere)  is  the  hereditary  tobacconist-general,  and  the  privilege 
of  sale  is  generally  farmed  out  to  some  contractor ;  accordingly, 
such  a  trump  as  a  really  good  home-made  cigar  is  hardly  to  be 
had  for  love  or  money  in  the  Peninsula.  Diogenes  would  sooner 
expect  to  find  an  honest  man  in  any  of  the  government  offices. 
As  there  is  no  royal  road  to  the  science  of  cigar-making,  the  ar- 
ticle is  badly  concocted,  of  bad  materials,  and,  to  add  insult  to 
injury,  is  charged  at  a  most  exorbitant  price.  In  order  to  benefit 
the  Havanah,  tobacco  is  not  allowed  to  be  grown  in  Spain,  which 
it  would  do  in  perfection  in  the  neighborhood  of  Malaga  ;  for  the 
experiment  was  made,  and  having  turned  out  quite  successfully, 
the  cultivation  was  immediately  prohibited.  The  iniquity  and 
dearness  of  the  royal  tobacco  makes  the  fortune  of  the  well-mean- 
ing smuggler,  who  being  here,  as  everywhere,  the  great  corrector 
of  blundering  chancellors  of  exchequers,  provides  a  better  and 
cheaper  thing  from  Gibraltar. 

The  proof  of  the  extent  to  which  his  dealings  are  carried  was 


SMUGGLED   CIGARS.  343 

exemplified  in  1828,  when  many  thousand  additional  hands  were 
obliged  to  be  put  on  to  the  manufactories  at  Seville  and  Granada, 
to  meet  the  increased  demand,  occasioned  by  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  supplies  from  Gibraltar,  in  consequence  of  the  yellow 
fever  which  was  then  raging  there.  No  offence  is  more  dread- 
fully punished  in  Spain  than  that  of  tobacco-smuggling,  which 
robs  the  queen's  pocket — all  other  robbery  is  treated  as  nothing, 
for  her  lieges  only  suffer. 

The  encouragement  afforded  to  the  -manufacture  and  smug- 
gling of  cigars  at  Gibraltar  is  a  never- failing  source  of  ill  blood 
and  ill-will  between  the  Spanish  and  English  governments.  This 
most  serious  evil  is  contrary  to  all  treaties,  injurious  to  Spain  and 
England  alike,  and  is  beneficial  only  to  aliens  of  the  worst  charac- 
ter, who  form  the  real  plagues  and  sore  of  Gibraltar.  The  Ame- 
rican and  every  other  nation  import  their  own  tobacco,  good,  bad, 
and  indifferent,  into  the  fortress  free  of  duty,  and  without  repur- 
chasing British  produce.  It  is  made  into  cigars  by  Genoese,  is 
smuggled  into  Spain  by  aliens,  in  boats  under  the  British  flag, 
which  is  disgraced  by  the  traffic  and  exposed  to  insult  from  the 
revenue  cutters  of  Spain,  which  it  cannot  in  justice  expect  to 
have  redressed.  The  Spaniards  would  have  winked  at  the  intro- 
duction of  English  hardware  and  cottons — objects  of  necessity, 
which  do  not  interfere  with  this,  their  chief  manufacture,  and  one 
of  the  most  productive  of  royal  monopolies.  There  is  a  wide  dif- 
ference between  encouraging  real  British  commerce  and  this 
smuggling  of  foreign  cigars,  nor  can  Spain  be  expected  to  observe 
treaties  towards  us  while  we  infringe  them  so  scandalously  and 
unprofitably  on  our  parts. 

Many  tobacchose  epicures,  who  smoke  their  regular  dozen  or 
two,  place  the  evil  sufficient  for  the  day  between  fresh  lettuce- 
leaves  :  this  damps  the  outer  leaf  of  the  article,  and  improves  the 
narcotic  effect ;  mem.,  the  inside,  the  trail,  las  tripas,  as  the  Spa- 
niards call  it,  should  be  kept  quite  dry.  The  disordered  interior 
of  the  royal  cigars  is  masked  by  a  good  outside  wrapper  leaf,  just 
as  Spanish  rags  are  cloaked  by  a  decent  capa,  but  1'habit  ne  fait 
pas  le  cigarre.  Few  except  the  rich  can  afford  to  smoke  good 
cigars.  Ferdinand  VII.,  unlike  his  ancestor  Louis  XIV.,  "  qui," 
says  La  Beaumelle,  "  hai'ssoit  le  tabac  singulierement,  quoiqu'un 


644,  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

de  ses  meilleurs  revenus,"  was  not  only  a  grand  compounder  but 
consumer  thereof.  He  indulged  in  the  royal  extravagance  of  a 
very  large  thick  cigar  made  in  the  Havanah  expressly  for  his 
gracious  use,  as  he  was  too  good  a  judge  to  smoke  his  own  manu- 
facture. Even  of  these  he  seldom  smoked  more  than  the  half; 
the  remainder  was  a  grand  perquisite,  like  our  palace  lights. 
The  cigar  was  one  of  his  pledges  of  love  and  hatred  ;  he  would 
give  one  to  his  favorites  when  in  sweet  temper  ;  and  often,  when 
meditating  a  treacherous  coup,  would  dismiss  the  unconscious  vic- 
tim with  a  royal  puro  :  and  when  the  happy  individual  got  home 
to  smoke  it,  he  was  saluted  by  an  Alguacil  with  an  order  to  quit 
Madrid  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  "  innocent"  Isabel,  who  does 
not  smoke,  substitutes  sugar-plums  :  she  regaled  Olozaga  with 
a  sweet  present,  when  she  was  "  doing  him"  at  the  bidding  of  the 
Christinist  camarilla.  It  would  seem  that  the  Spanish  Bourbons 
when  not  "  cretinized"  into  idiots,  are  creatures  composed  of 
cunning  and  cowardice.  But  "  those  who  cannot  dissimulate 
are  unfit  to  reign"  was  the  axiom  of  their  illustrious  ancestor 
Louis  XI. 

In  Spain  the  bulk  of  their  happy  subjects  cannot  afford,  either 
the  expense  of  tobacco,  which  is  dear  to  them,  or  the  gain  of 
time,  which  is  very  cheap,  by  smoking  a  whole  cigar  right  away. 
They  make  one  afford  occupation  and  recreation  for  half  an  hour. 
Though  few  Spaniards  ruin  themselves  in  libraries,  none  are 
without  a  little  blank-book  of  a  particular  paper  which  is  made  at 
Alcoy,  in  Valencia.  At  any  pause  all  say  at  once — "  pues, 
senores  !  echaremos  un  cigarrito — well  then,  my  Lords,  let  us 
make  a  little  cigar,"  and  all  set  seriously  to  work  ;  every  man, 
besides  this  book,  is  armed  with  a  small  case  of  flint,  steel,  .and  a 
combustible  tinder.  To  make  a  paper  cigar,  like  putting  on  a 
cloak,  is  an  operation  of  much  more  difficulty  than  it  seems,  al- 
though all  Spaniards,  who  have  done  nothing  so  much,  from  their 
childhood  upwards,  perform  both  with  extreme  facility  and  neat- 
ness. '  This  is  the  mode  : — the  petaca,  Arabice  Butak,  or  little 
case  worked  by  a  fair  hand,  in  the  colored  thread  of  the  aloe,  in 
which  the  store  of  cigars  is  kept,  is  taken  out — a  leaf  is  torn  from 
the  book,  which  is  held  between  the  lips,  or  downwards  from  the 
back  of  the  hand,  between  the  fore  and  middle  finger  of  the  left 


LIGHTING  CIGARS.  345 

hand — a  portion  of  the  cigar,  about  a  third,  is  cut  off  and  rubbed 
slowly  in  the  palms  till  reduced  to  a  powder — it  is  then  jerked 
into  the  paper-leaf,  which  is  rolled  up  into  a  little  squib,  and  the 
ends  doubled  down,  one  of  which  is  bitten  off  and  the  other  end  is 
lighted.  The  cigarillo  is  smoked  slowly,  the  last  whiff  being  the 
bonne  bouche,  the  breast,  la  'pechuga.  The  little  ends  are  thrown 
away  :  they  are  indeed  little,  for  a  Spanish  fore-finger  and  thumb 
are  quite  fire-browned  and  fire-proof,  although  some  polished  ex- 
quisites use  silver  holders  ;  these  remnants  are  picked  up  by  the 
beggar-boys,  who  make  up  into  fresh  cigars  the  leavings  of  a 
thousand  mouths.  There  is  no  want  of  fire  in  Spain;  every- 
where, what  we  should  call  link-boys  run  about  with  a  slowly- 
burning  rope  for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  At  many  of  the  sheds 
where  water  and  lemonade  are  sold,  one  of  the  ropes,  twirled  like 
a  snake  round  a  post,  and  ignited,  is  kept  ready  as  the  match  of  a 
besieged  artilleryman  ;  while  in  the  houses  of  the  affluent,  a  small 
silver  chafing-dish,  with  lighted  charcoal,  is  usually  on  a  table. 
Mr.  Henningsen  relates  that  Zumalacarreguy,  when  about  to 
execute  some  Christinos  at  Villa  Franca,  observed  one  (a  school- 
master) looking  about,  like  Raleigh,  for  a  light  for  his  last  dying 
puff  in  this  life,  upon  which  the  General  took  his  own  cigar  from 
his  mouth,  and  handed  it  to  him.  The  schoolmaster  lighted  his 
own,  returned  the  other  with  a  respectful  bow,  and  went  away 
smoking  and  reconciled  to  be  shot.  This  urgent  necessity  levels 
all  ranks,  and  it  is  allowable  to  stop  any  person  for  fire;  this 
proves  the  practical  equality  of  all  classes,  and  that  democracy 
under  a  despotism,  which  exists  in  smoking  Spain,  as  in  the  tor- 
rid East.  The  cigar  forms  a  bond  of  union,  an  isthmus  of  com- 
munication between  most  heterogeneous  oppositions.  It  is  the 
habeas  corpus  of  Spanish  liberties.  The  soldier  takes  fire  from 
the  canon's  lip,  and  the  dark  face  of  the  humble  laborer  is 
whitened  by  the  reflection  of  the  cigar  of  the  grandee  and  lounger. 
The  lowest  orders  have  a  coarse  roll  or  rope  of  tobacco,  where- 
with to  solace  their  sorrows,  and  it. is  their  calumet  of  peace. 
Some  of  the  Spanish  fair  sex  are  said  to  indulge  in  a  quiet  hidden 
cigarilla,  una  pajita,  una  reyna,  but  it  is  not  thought  either  a  sign 
of  a  lady,  or  of  one  of  rigid  virtue,  to  have  recourse  to  these  for- 

16* 


J46  THE  SPANIARDS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

bidden  pleasures ;  for,  says  their  proverb,  whoever  makes  one 
basket  will  make  a  hundred. 

Nothing  exposes  a  traveller  to  more  difficulty  than  carrying 
much  tobacco  in  his  luggage ;  yet  all  will  remember  never  to  be 
without  some  cigars,  and  the  better  the  better.  It  is  a  trifling 
outlay,  for  although  any  cigar  is  acceptable,  yet  a  real  good  one 
is  a  gift  from  a  king.  The  greater  the  enjoyment  of  the  smoker, 
the  greater  his  respect  for  the  donor  ;  a  cigar  may  be  given  to 
everybody,  whether  high  or  low :  thus  the  petaca  is  offered,  as  a 
polite  Frenchman  of  La  Vieille  Cour  (a  race,  alas !  all  but  ex- 
tinct) offered  his  snuff-box,  by  way  of  a  prelude  to  conversation 
and  intimacy.  It  is  an  act  of  civility,  and  implies  no  superiority, 
nor  is  there  any  humiliation  in  the  acceptance  ;  it  is  twice  blessed, 
"  It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes."  It  is  the  spell 
wherewith  to  charm  the  natives,  who  are  its  ready  and  obedient 
slaves,  and,  like  a  small  kind  word  spoken  in  time,  it  works 
miracles.  There  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  the  stranger 
and  traveller  can  purchase  for  half-a-crown,  half  the  love  and 
good- will  which  its  investment  in  tobacco  will  ensure,  therefore 
the  man  who  grudges  or  neglects  it  is  neither  a  philanthropist  nor 
a  philosopher. 

A  calculation  might  be  made  by  those  fond  of  arithmetic — 
which  we  abhor — of  the  waste  of  time  and  money  which  is  caused 
to  the  poor  Spaniards  by  all  this  prodigious  cigarising.  This  said 
tobacco  importation  of  Raleigh  is  even  a  more  doubtful  good  to 
the  Peninsula  than  that  of  potatoes  to  cognate  Ireland,  where  it 
fosters  poverty  and  population.  Let  it  be  assumed  that  a  respect- 
able Spaniard  only  smokes  for  fifty  years,  allow  him  the  moderate 
allowance  of  six  cigars  a  day — the  Regent,  it  is  said,  consumed 
forty  every  twenty-four  hours — calculate  the  cost  of  each  cigar  at 
two-pence,  which  is  cheap  enough  anywhere  for  a  decent  one ; 
suppose  that  half  of  these  are  made  into  paper  cigars,  which 
require  double  time — how  much  Spanish  time  and  private  income 
is  wasted  in  smoke  ?  That  is  the  question  which  we  are  unable 
\o  answer. 

Here,  alas !  the  pen  must  be  laid  down ;  an  express  from 
Albemarle-street  informs  us,  that  this  page  must  go  to  press  next 
week,  seeing  that  the  printer's  devils  celebrate  Christmas  time 


SPANISH  STOCK.  347 


with  a  most  religious  abstinence  from  work.  Many  things  of 
Spain  must  therefore  be  left  in  our  inkstand,  filled  to  the  brim 
with  good  intentions.  We  had  hoped,  at  oiir  onset,  to  have 
sketched  portraits  of  the  Provincial  and  General  Character  of 
Spanish  men — to  have  touched  upon  Spanish  Soldiers  and  States- 
men— Journalism  and  Place  Hunting — Mendicants,  Ministers, 
and  Mosquitoes — Charters,  Cheatings,  and  Constitutions — Fine 
Arts — French  and  English  Politics — Legends,  Relics,  and  Re- 
ligion— Monks  and  Manners ;  and  last,  not  least — reserved  indeed 
as  a  bonne  bouche — the  Eyes,  Loves,  Dress,  and  Details  of  the 
Spanish  Ladies.  It  cannot  be — nay,  even  as  it  is,  "  for  stories 
somehow  lengthen  when  begun,'7  and  especially  if  woven  with 
Spanish  yarn,  even  now  the  indulgence  of  our  fair  readers  may 
be  already  exhausted  by  this  sample  of  the  Cosas  de  Espana. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  assuredly  the  smallest  hint  of  a  desire  to  the 
flattering  contrary,  which  they  may  condescend  to  express,  will 
be  obeyed  as  a  command  by  their  grateful  and  humble  servant 
the  author,  who,  as  every  true  Spanish  Hidalgo  very  properly 
concludes  on  similar,  and  on  every  occasion,  "  kisses  their  feet." 

Postscript. — In  the  first  number  of  this  work,  at  page  38, 
some  particulars  were  given  of  Spanish  Stock,  derived,  as  was 
believed,  from  the  most  official  and  authentic  sources.  On  the 
very  evening  that  the  volume  was  published,  and  too  late  there- 
fore for  any  corrections,  the  following  obliging  letter  was  re- 
ceived from  an  anonymous  correspondent,  which  is  now  printed 
verbatim : — 

London,  30th  November,  1846. 
SIR, 

I  HAVE  just  perused  your  valuable  and  amusing  work,  but  must  own 
I  felt  somewhat  annoyed  at  seeing  so  gross  a  misrepresentation  in  the 
account  you  gave  of  the  national  debt  of  that  country ;  the  amount  you  give 
is  perfectly  absurd.  You  say  it  has  been  increased  to  279.033,OS9Z. — this  is 
too  bad.  Now  I  can  give  you  the  exact  amount.  The  five  per  cents,  con- 
sists of  40,000,OOOZ.  only ;  the  coupons  upon  that  sum  to  12,000,0007. ;  and 
the  present  3  per  cents,  to  6,000,000/. ;  in  all,  58,000,000.,  and  their  own 
domestic  debt,  which  is  very  trifling.  Now  this  is  rather  different  to  your 
statement ;  besides,  you  are  doing  your  book  great  injury  by  writing  the 
Spanish  Stock  down  so ;  more  particularly  so,  as  there  is  no  doubt  some 


348  THE  SPANIARDS  AND   THEIR  COUNTRY. 

final  settlement  will  be  come  to  before  your  second  Number  appears  [?} 
The  country  is  far  from  being  as  you  misrepresent  it  to  be — bankrupt. 
She  is  very  rich,  and  quite  capable  of  meeting  her  engagements,  which  are 
so  trifling — if  you  were  to  write  down  our  Railroads  I  should  think  you  a 
sensible  man,  for  they  are  the  greatest  bubbles,  since  the  great  South  Sea 
bubble.  But  Spanish  is  a  fortune  to  whoever  is  so  fortunate  as  to  possess 
it  now.  I  am,  and  have  been  for  some  years,  a  large  holder,  and  am  now 
looking  forward  to  the  realization  of  all  my  plans,  in  the  present  Minister 
of  Finance,  Senor  Mon,  and  the  rising  of  that  stock  to  its  proper  price — 
about  60  or  70. 

I  should,  as  a  friend,  advise  you  to  correct  your  book  before  you  strike 
any  more  copies,  if  you  wish  to  sell  it,  as  a  true  representation  of  the  pres- 
ent existing  state  of  the  country.  Your  book  might  have  done  ten  years 
ago,  but  people  will  not  be  gulled  now ;  we  are  too  well  aware  that  almost 
all  our  own  papers  are  bribed  (and  perhaps,  books),  to  write  down  Spanish, 
and  Spanish  finance,  by  raising  all  manner  of  reports — of  Carlist  bands 
appearing  in  all  directions,  &c.  &c.  &c.,  which  is  most  absurd — the  Carl- 
ists'  cause  is  dead. 

I  hope.  Sir,  you  will  not  be  offended  with  these  lines,  but  rather  take 
them  as  a  friendly  hint,  as  I  admire  your  book  much ;  and  I  hope  you  will 
yourself  see  the  falsity  of  what  has  been  inserted  in  a  work  of  amusement, 
and  correct  it  at  once. 

I  remain,  Sir, 
Your  obedient  and  humble  Servant, 

A  FRIEND  OF  TRUTH. 

To Ford,  Esq. 

It  is  a  trifle  "  too  bad"  to  be  thus  set  down  by  our  complimen- 
tary correspondent  as  the  inventor  of  these  startling  facts,  figures, 
and  "  fallacies,"  since  the  full,  true,  and  exact  particulars  are  to 
be  found  at  pages  85  and  89  of  Mr.  Macgregor's  Commercial 
Tariffs  of  Spain,  presented  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament  in  1844 
by  the  command  of  Her  Majesty.  And  as  there  was  some  vari- 
ance in  amount,  the  author  all  through  quoted  from  other  men's 
sums,  and  spoke  doubtingly  and  approximative^,  being  little  de- 
sirous of  having  anything  connected  with  Spanish  debts  laid  at  his 
door,  or  charged  to  his  account.  He  has  no  interest  whatever  in 
these  matters,  having  never  been  the  fortunate  holder  of  one 
farthing  either  in  Spanish  funds  or  even  English  railroads. 
Equally  a  friend  of  truth  as  his  kind  monitor,  he  simply  wished  to 
caution-fair  readers,  who  might  otherwise  mis-invest,  as  he  errone- 
ously it  appears  conceived,  the  savings  in  their  pin-money.  If  he 


THE  AUTHOR'S  POSTSCRIPT.  349 


has  unwittingly  stated  that  which  is  not,  he  can  but  give  up  his 
authority,  be  very  much  ashamed,  and  insert  the  antidote  to  his 
errors.  He  sincerely  hopes  that  all  and  every  one  of  the  bright 
visions  of  his  anonymous  friend  may  be  realized.  Had  he  him- 
self, which  Heaven  forfend !  been  sent  on  the  errand  of  discovery 
whether  the  Madrid  ministers  be  made,  or  not,  of  squeezable 
materials,  considering  that  Astrsea  has  not  yet  returned  to  Spain, 
with  good  governments,  the  golden  age,  or  even  a  tariff,  his  first 
step  would  have  been  to  grease  the  wheels  with  sovereign  oint- 
ment ;  and  with  a  view  of  not  being  told  by  ministers  and  cashiers 
to  call  again  to-morrow,  he  would  have  opened  the  negocio  by 
offering  somebody  20  per  cent,  on  all  the  hard  dollars  paid  down  ; 
thus  possibly  some  breath  and  time  might  be  economized,  and 
trifling  disappointments  prevented. 


THE   END. 


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